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The Sussexes

Prince Harry set to begin Australian Army attachment next week

Prince Harry will begin his secondment to the Australian Defence Force on 6th April, Kensington Palace announced today, as they confirmed new details about the Prince’s attachment to the Australian forces ahead of his leaving the British Armed Forces in June after ten years’ service.

14251989715_b0e49bc0e7_hDuring his time with the ADF, he will come to understand the operating environment within Australia and take part in a range of training exercises, domestic deployments and other endeavours with several units in the Force.

On Monday, Harry will arrive in Australia and first travel to Canberra to carry out two public engagements to mark the start of his four-week attachment.

According to officials, Captain Wales’s involvement with the Australian Army forms part of his regular British Army duties and builds on his previous experience with coalition forces “along with his advocacy work with wounded, injured and ill service personnel”. The two nations’ armies have a long-standing association as well as the history the two share. “Secondments, exchanges, bilateral training and professional development opportunities” are standard and routine between the two forces.

At the Australian War Memorial, Harry will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider and tour the World War I and Afghanistan Galleries at the Australian War Memorial. Following the wreath laying ceremony and tour, he will meet with those gathered who hope to see him during his visit.

Following the event at the Australian War Memorial, Harry will report for duty to the Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, who has served in the Australian Army’s most senior role since 2014. He will meet senior Army personnel before beginning his military exchange with the Australian Army.

During his secondment, Prince Harry will also engage in several royal engagements, including towards the end of his attachment on a visit to Turkey with his father the Prince of Wales as the two attend the Gallipoli commemorations in Turkey on 24th and 25th April.

It will also be followed by a royal tour of New Zealand in May, at the request of the New Zealand government, which will be Prince Harry’s first ever visit to New Zealand.

Officials say the Prince is yet to decide on a more long-term career after he leaves the Army in June and reports seem to suggest that full-time royal duties are not yet on the cards for the 30-year-old prince, much like his brother who has just started working for the East Anglian Air Ambulance service.

After finishing with the Army in June, Prince Harry will spend some time during the summer carrying out a programme of voluntary work, which Palace officials say will be alongside field-based conservation experts in Africa. His time will be spent “learning how local communities in sub-Saharan Africa are working to protect and conserve their natural resources and wildlife”.

According to a report from the Sunday Mirror earlier this month, Prince Harry is in line to become Colonel of the Life Guards in the coming months as he retires from active service. Members of the Royal Family are often appointed to honorary colonelcies within the Armed Forces as part of creating a good relationship between the Commander in Chief (The Queen) and her Armed Forces.

photo credit: UK in Italy