Queen Elizabeth 'accepted' Prince Harry going to war but thought …

Queen Elizabeth "accepted" her grandson Prince Harry going to war but thought Prince William entering the battlefield was too great a risk for the monarchy. Retired general Sir Mike Jackson served as the British Army's Chief of the General Staff from 2003 to 2006 and would meet the Queen for an audience "once or twice a year". During a private conversation, the late Queen allegedly told him of the need for both William and Harry to serve in the armed forces but only Harry should be sent to war.

Mr Jackson made the revelations in the new five-part documentary series The Real Crown, which explores the complex relationships of the royal family. "She told me: 'My grandsons have taken my shilling and therefore they must do their duty'," the 79-year-old said.   "But it was decided that for William as heir to the heir the risk was too great.

"But for his younger brother the risk was acceptable," he revealed.   True to the Queen's wishes, both William and Harry served in the British armed forces but only Harry actually entered active duty on the front line. Instead, William completed his service in the United Kingdom and later retrained as an air ambulance pilot.  

Harry served in the armed forces from 2006 until 2015 and completed two tours of Afghanistan as a helicopter pilot. In his memoir Spare, the Duke of Sussex penned parts of what he went through, describing killing Afghans as removing "chess pieces" and revealing his "kill count" was 25. "When I found myself plunged in the heat and confusion of combat, I didn't think of those 25 as people," he wrote in the book.

"They were chess pieces removed from the board, bad people eliminated before they could kill good people." Mr Jackson's revelations of private discussions with the Queen may come as a surprise to many Britons, as few people have ever betrayed the confidence of the late monarch and shared what the Queen said during a private audience. In 2010, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair allegedly angered Elizabeth II after revealing details of private conversations he had during weekly audiences in his memoirs.

Nevertheless, the 96-year-old's attitude towards her grandchildren serving in the military appears similar to her feelings when her second son Prince Andrew served in the Royal Navy during the Falklands War.

In 1982, Andrew was serving as a helicopter pilot when Argentina invaded the British territory and sparked the deadly conflict.  

At the time, the British government was concerned about the Queen's son being placed in active duty and encouraged Andrew to take on a desk job away from the frontline.

Instead, Elizabeth herself insisted Andrew should remain in the conflict even after the Argentine government planned but did not attempt to assassinate her son.