Don. It is as plain as the nose on yer fizzog that the royal chappies are fast-tracked into the military and that this is done for public relations reasons, not because they have fightin' and heroism coursing through their blue-blooded veins. You will note that not a single royal ever comes home in a body bag, or even with a cut finger, and they never will. This is because they are accorded full protection whilst they are "out there." "Front-line" has a very elastic definition when it comes to them. Just think. All those royal lads will, one day, have to look suitably sombre in front of the Cenotaph. Whatever else happens, they must be seen to be sporting a pound or two of medals and the last thing they want is The Guardian telling the truth about how fake they are. The royals in the forces have nothing to do with swashbuckling bravery and everything to do with the ancient tradition of putting royals in uniform in order to delude the rest of us into thinking how brave and "one of us" they are.