This retired British Army Captain may have a bright future in defense policy.Getty Images

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, amid widespread furor over the latest royal tell-all book, Endgame, is reportedly embarking upon a “total system reboot.” Now that Harry’s issues with his royal relatives have been aired out, dissected at length in both a best-selling book and an exhaustive media campaign, the veteran army officer has an interesting opportunity to pursue a more durable and lasting future as a national security tastemaker.

Rather than focus on a fading career as a bon vivant philanthropist and B-list celebrity, Prince Harry, by pivoting to defense, can make a far greater impression on the world. Already focused on veterans’ affairs, Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, can turn to national security affairs and still address their long-standing interests in unleashing “the power of compassion to drive systemic cultural change.”

Weighing in on defense policy would be a big and controversial step for this forlorn, Los Angeles-based outpost of the British royal family. Members of the British royal family—even non-working ones—are discouraged from venturing into politically-charged discussions.

But breaking an ossified behavioral norm is nothing new for the rebellious red-haired royal, and, even though shrieks of “this won’t do” will echo out from Fleet Street tabloids, defense policy offers Prince Harry both continued relevance as well as a viable link to happier times as an officer in the British Army.

As a well-spoken, twice-deployed former Army Captain with a reputation for frank talk, a policy-minded Prince Harry is enormous asset for the West’s wider defense community. By engaging, he can make defense policy matter to a general public that largely shuns the topic.

At a minimum, Prince Harry is a draw—he attracts headlines and the public still wants to hear what the exiled Prince has to say. By diving into defense and national security policy, the non-working British royal stays relevant.

With the added frisson that every utterance by Prince Harry will irk his estranged brother and heir to the throne, Prince William, pushing London’s cadre of tradition-intoxicated royal “minders” into a frenzy, discussions of UK defense policy haven’t offered this much potential for excitement since Margaret Thatcher went to war over the Falkland Islands.

Politics is the sole place working British royals cannot overmatch Retired Captain Harry and his ... [+] family.Getty Images
Road To A More Robust Royal Relevance:

Prince Harry can easily start his new career by building off his already strong interest in veterans and military families. The newly-named “Global Ambassador” for Scotty’s Little Soldiers—a charity that focuses on helping children who have lost a military parent—has already been ramping up his engagement in military and veterans affairs.

Before Veteran’s Day, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex traveled to San Diego, gracing the “grand opening” of a new Navy SEAL Foundation’s Warrior Fitness Program facility, and dropping in on “Operation Bigs”, a mentoring program for children of military families.

Engagement is not a problem. The challenge will be for Harry to pivot from the anodyne boredom of veterans’ charity receptions into the more robust business of having informed, politically-relevant opinions on national security. But it can be done—it just takes a willingness to present a point of view and some creativity.

There’s plenty Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, can do from their Los Angeles home. A simple video series, highlighting the best and worst barracks in the U.S., would win over American troops. A couple of days spent tagging along with service members or other military workers as they carry out hours-long commutes to-and-from their duty posts in coastal California might jumpstart some much-needed discussions on U.S. servicemember quality of life.

With Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville trying to convert his blanket hold on military promotions into some sort of political screen for “woke” officers, the Sussex family has plenty of room to act fast, quickly converting the uproar from Endgame’s inadvertent revelations over race into a wider context. Race and gender matter for military forces throughout the free world; in the U.S., the Army, with just 53.6% of the force now identifying as “White, not Hispanic”, is on the cusp of dramatic change. Females are a growing presence in the armed forces, and the U.S. Coast Guard is grappling with a massive, longstanding coverup of sexual abuse.

Both Harry and Meghan can tie their activism to America’s naval expansion. With the future of aircraft carriers under debate, both the U.S. Navy and carrier builder Huntington Ingalls Industries would likely welcome wider discussion of the fourth $13.3 billion Gerald R. Ford-class carrier, the future USS Doris Miller (CVN-81). Named after Messman Second Class Doris Miller, an African American whose heroics during Pearl Harbor earned him a Navy Cross, Miller’s legacy might prove a fascinating springboard for pushing discussions on institutional racism beyond the royal family.

The same can go for the General Dynamics
GD
-built John Lewis-class (T-AO-205) logistical support ships that are being fabricated in San Diego. Each of those critical vessels are set to be named after leaders in America’s civil rights movement.

As a former flyer of a Boeing AH-64D Apache, Prince Harry is an ideal spokesperson for rotary-wing platforms. Fresh off winning a $12 billion Apache sale to Poland, the aerospace giant would certainly love to sell more.

And if highlighting weapons is a poor fit for the cast-out member of the British royal family, the U.S. Coast Guard might embrace an opportunity for Prince Harry to focus public attention their aging and hard-used helicopter fleet and important-but-overlooked mission sets in the Pacific and Polar regions.

Prince Harry’s real value to the UK rests in his ability to engage the attention of the UK public. By highlighting opportunities in the wide-spanning AUKUS agreement—an alliance that touches on everything from submarines to robotics and other high technology—Prince Harry can raise the profile of this economy-changing international effort.

The British Armed Forces, desperate for funding and facing a serious challenge in justifying their existence, would welcome any effort that brings their struggle into a wider public focus. And, with the Ukraine war still raging, the online-oriented Sussex family can explore how Europe’s munitions production pipeline is struggling to fight off interference from the likes of TikTok.

Put bluntly, Prince Harry’s ties to British royalty are slim and growing slimmer by the day. Either the Prince can continue pursuing an increasingly pointless life of serving as an irrelevant hood ornament for good causes, or he can try to engage, advancing any national security issues he finds worthwhile. Political policy is the sole place working British Royals are, by a mix of regulation and habit, unable to overmatch Harry’s efforts.

Who knows?

If retired Army Captain Harry proves to be as good at building public interest in national security and changing defense culture as he is in irking his family and royal hangers-on, Harry and Meghan might, one day, return, in triumph, to London.

Taking a few years to develop a strong and relevant policy background, Captain Harry could, in time, consider a controversial-but-exciting race to serve as a Member of the House of Commons. If successful, he could end the game, winning a stint as a Secretary of State for Defense. From there, the caring, retired serviceman could do a whole lot of good for soldiers and sailors—all while spurring his brother, the future King of England, to do more good as well.