PRINCE Harry winning an ESPY award is a “tragedy” and the mum of NFL legend Pat Tillman is “right to be disturbed,” a royal expert has said.
The Duke of Sussex, 39, is due to be honoured with the Pat Tillman Award for Service for his Invictus Games work at the glitzy ESPY Awards in Los Angeles on July 11.
The ESPY Awards (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) is run by the sports TV network ESPN and the Pat Tillman Award has previously been given to unsung heroes.
For the last 10 years the Pat Tillman Award for Service has been “given to a person with a strong connection to sports who has served others in a way that echoes the legacy of the former NFL player and US Army Ranger, Pat Tillman,” according to ESPN.
Tillman’s life was tragically cut short when he was killed by friendly fire while serving in Afghanistan.
Pat’s mum, Mary, has previously hit out at the Duke saying there are others “far more fitting” and with less “privilege” who could win the gong.
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Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said: “It’s a very, very sad situation, and I think this is one of the reasons Mary Tillman, the mother of Pat, believes that Harry isn’t fit, and that is a wasted opportunity.
“In my opinion, I think it’s been a tragedy all round.”
While Richard backed Harry’s work with the Invictus Games, saying it was a “remarkable achievement” he said it had been a “missed opportunity”.
Richard added: “Consider what they could have achieved but also what they could have done in an addition to Invictus and other charities for others.
“If you look at the way members of the Royal Family, tirelessly, very often without publicity, carry out royal duties, it’s very important to see.
“Yes, that Invictus was something that was remarkable, but equally it could have been followed by so much more that was also remarkable, and would have helped others in certain charities.
“Issues like gender equality, racial equality, discrimination of various sorts, and so forth, which they feel so strongly about as senior working members of the royal family, and they had a unique opportunity to do this.”
Following Mary Tillman’s comments a petition has also been launched to try and prevent ESPN from awarding the prince, who is a veteran of Afghanistan himself, with the award.
It has picked up around 30,000 signatories.
One signatory said: “Pat Tillman sacrificed his life for duty and country! Harry walked away from duty and country & spit on his commander in chief, country, duty & family on his way out.
“All for a Hollywood dream! I’m appalled as an American that you would give him this award. It now means nothing!”
Richard said: “I think that Pat Tillman’s mother appears to have been shocked by the fact that Harry has been given this award, and there’s no doubt that while she isn’t personally involved in the choice, there’s no doubt that carried a lot of weight.
“I think a lot of people will be disturbed that someone who clearly has a great deal of interest in who gets the award feels that Harry is totally unfit for it.”
Richard added: “The Invictus Games debate is centring around Harry’s personal character, and the issues of dedication to duty.
Prince Harry’s Army career
Prince Harry entered RMAS in May 2005 to begin 44 weeks of Officer Cadet training, this was after passing his Regular Commissions Board (RCB), the qualification necessary to train at Sandhurst, in September 2004.
In January 2006, Clarence House announced he was to join the Blues and Royals, after which he was commissioned as an Army officer on 12 April that year.
The Duke of Sussex served in the Army for ten years, undertaking two tours of Afghanistan.
The father of two rose to the rank of Captain at the peak of his military career which began in 2004.
During his time serving, he qualified as an Apache Aircraft Commander.
In his memoir Spare he revealed he flew six missions during his second tour of duty which resulted in “the taking of human lives” of which he was neither proud nor ashamed.
His decision to leave the Army was confirmed in March 2015.
Prince Harry ended his military career at the rank of captain in June 2015, following a secondment to the Australian military.
General Sir Nicholas Carter, the then-Chief of the General Staff, said that Prince Harry had “achieved much in his 10 years as a soldier”.
“Characteristics that Pat Tillman had, and which are supposed to be personified, so to speak, supposed to be symbolised with the person getting this particular award and it’s called quite a debate in America.
“There’s no question at all that this award is being given to someone who many people believe didn’t do his duty.
“Indeed, he and Meghan only remained working members of the Royal Family for a very, very brief time after their marriage, in 2018.
“They announced that they were stepping, they thought back, but it turned out to be stepping down only a year and a half or so later, and the feeling is that Harry has not got the character or has not shown the character, that winners of this award should show.”
However, there have been voices that have supported Prince Harry in getting the award.
US Marine and former college football player Jake Wood, who won the award in 2018, told TMZ the Duke of Sussex was a natural fit for the Tillman honour because of his military service and his dedication to veterans.
US Air Force Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro Jr., received the Tillman award in 2017, and he told the site Harry’s work with wounded and injured veterans made him a worthy recipient.
The Duke founded the Invictus Games a decade ago to support injured and sick servicemen and women – both on active duty and veterans.
Prince Harry is also the founder and/or patron of a number of global charities and organisations including Travalyst, Sentebale, Wellchild and also sits on the board of African Parks.
It comes despite Harry courting controversy by boasting of killing 25 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
He wrote in his memoir Spare that he’d taken “chess pieces off the board”, sparking ex-colonel Tim Collins to respond it was “not how you behave in the army”.