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Sat, June 2, 2007
Howdy, Harry!
UPDATED: 2007-06-02 01:16:11 MST
Little Prince on the Prairie
By SARAH KENNEDY, PABLO FERNANDEZ AND EMMA GILCHRIST, SUN MEDIA
SUFFIELD -- Royalty touched down at CFB Suffield with the arrival of Prince Harry, the third in line to the British throne who is now training at the southern Alberta base for a tour of duty in war-torn Afghanistan.
The Sun has confirmed Harry, an officer of the British army, arrived in Calgary Wednesday afternoon on British Airways Flight 103 and was quickly whisked away to join the British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS), stationed at the base about 250 km southeast of the city.
"He flew into Calgary direct from London Heathrow," said a source at the Calgary airport who didn't want to be named.
"They got him in and out of there very quickly."
Passengers were surprised to see the 22-year-old prince on the flight and said he was dressed very casually and wearing a baseball cap.
"He's apparently a very nice guy," said the source, who added Harry was greeted by two uniformed soldiers upon disembarking the plane.
Two weeks ago, Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt, the British Army's chief of staff, made the decision not to send Harry with his unit to Iraq, citing specific threats to the third-in-line to the throne and risks to his fellow- soldiers.
The fear was Harry would be specifically targeted by Iraqi insurgents as a trophy kill or capture.
The prince was said to be quite disappointed with the decision, but London media have reported an alternative plan was devised by army officials to send Harry to join troops in Afghanistan without facing excessive risks or publicity.
CFB Suffield -- the largest Commonwealth training base -- is the site where Canadian and British troops prepare for missions in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
A worker at the base, who declined to give his name, said he saw Harry early Thursday morning.
"I didn't realize who he was at first, but they were making a big production at the gate and a couple of guys with me at the time pointed him out to me," said the man.
Rumours that Lt. Wales -- second-oldest son of Prince Charles -- had recently arrived at CFB Suffield were all over the neighbouring communities.
Although it couldn't be confirmed, some Ralston- and Suffield-area residents said security in the base had been heightened in the last 48 hours, leading a few to believe that maybe the rumours were true.
Soldiers in the base, both Canadian and British, said they had no knowledge of whether Prince Harry was in the Canadian training area.
Capt. Mark Beaman, adjutant for the British army training unit at CFB Suffield, neither confirmed nor denied Harry's presence at the base.
"We can't comment on the whereabouts of the Prince," he said.
"After all the speculation surrounding whether he would deploy to Iraq or not, it was decided we wouldn't comment on the Prince's whereabouts, now or in the future."
calgary sun
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