As The Telegraph reports, Queen Elizabeth II initially considered that her grandsons William and Henry should fight in the war in Afghanistan in 2001 but changed her mind because of the risk to the second in line to the British throne, William. The monarch wanted her grandsons to do their duty but decided that the risk of sending the future king to the battlefield was too great. John Scarlett, the former head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, claimed that William wanted to go to war. William completed a 44-week course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served in the Royal Air Force and Navy until 2008.
In contrast, Henry served two tours in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter pilot and claimed to have killed 25 Taliban fighters in his memoirs. However, Henry admitted that he did not think of the dead “as people” but as chess pieces he had taken off the chessboard.
Former British Army chief General Mike Jackson revealed in the ITVX documentary “The Royal Crown” that the Queen had found it unacceptable for William to take risks and that, although she wanted her grandchildren to do their duty, she eventually decided that the risk was too great for William, as heir to the throne. According to the general, the monarch had detailed information about the risks faced by the British Army in Afghanistan.
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