British Soldier Recalls When Prince Harry Saved Him From Homophobic Attack

“And of course, the most important moment I will remember personally, the time the Prince stepped in and told a group of very unhappy soldiers to ‘back the f**k off’ and leave me alone. This was following on from an incident which had occurred the evening before during which I had got a little close to a soldier from another regiment whilst drinking in the bar. The morning Harry had to come to my rescue, word had got round among the other regiment about what had happened between me and one of their own, and a group of angry sergeants wanted my blood — because to them, I was obviously to blame. Harry caught wind of the situation and confronted the older non commissioned officers, and made, quite clear, that they would be for the high jump if they gave me another second’s hassle over the issue — my sexuality.

I remember watching him put these much older, much more experienced soldiers firmly in their place and the group walked away, visibly, with their tails between their legs. He returned to me and said, unassumingly, “you won’t hear from that lot again.”