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English royalty, from Boadicea onwards, won respect and fealty for their leadership in battle. From Henry V, celebrated especially by Shakespeare for his derring-do at Agincourt, to Richard III, whose unhorsed end was seen as a fitting death for a monarch, kings throughout the centuries have taken military command.

Some were successful: William III’s victory at the battle of the Boyne is still remembered by Ulster Protestants three centuries later. Even those whose cause was doomed are still respected for their courage on the field: Charles I and Bonnie Prince Charlie were defeated but engendered an enduring romantic myth.

The last ruling monarch to have led soldiers into battle was George II in 1743 at the battle of Dettingen in Germany, with questionable effect. He brought with him 600 coaches and attendants, blocking the road to the battle, and when the cannon fired, his parade ground-trained horse bolted back through the lines. The horse and its rider took refuge under an oak tree and had to be rescued by the Cheshire Regiment, which was awarded an oak leaf decoration for their gallantry.

The Grand Old Duke of York, the second son of George III and commander-in-chief of the British Army during the Napoleonic wars, hardly fared any better: he never actually engaged in battle, having led his men up and down a tiny undefended hill near Kassel, and is now remembered only in mocking song.

With the advent of a constitutional monarchy, military leadership was devolved to professionals. But a military career was still regarded as fitting for a prince or even an heir. In the First World War, Crown Prince Wilhelm, the son of the Kaiser, led the German offensive at Verdun and complained bitterly that the German generals restrained him.

On the British side, a shy, young 20-year-old prince, the son of George V, was a midshipman on HMS Collingwood and saw action at the Battle of Jutland. It was the future George VI.

Royalty was also engaged in the Second World War. The King’s eldest daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was enrolled as a driver in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) — largely to set a symbol of service.

More active command was given to a more distant member of the family, Lord Louis Mountbatten, who joined the Navy in 1916. By 1939 he had gained command of a flotilla of destroyers, which saw considerable action in the Mediterranean. In May 1941 his ship HMS Kelly was sunk by German dive-bombers off the coast of Crete with the loss of more than half the crew. The Kelly and her captain were later immortalised in Noël Coward’s film In Which We Serve.

A military career was seen as suitable for the present generation of royalty. The Prince of Wales served for five years in both the Navy and the RAF, though never saw action. His brother Andrew, however, who signed on in 1979 as a trainee helicopter pilot in the Navy, was aboard the HMS Invincible at the time of the Falklands conflict. Prince Edward began a career in the Royal Marines, largely at his father’s urging, but controversially left the service after only a few months.

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