Prince William Calls for Stronger Protection of Service Women From Sexual Harassment

The Prince of Wales has put his name to a public call for change in how women are treated in Britain's armed forces. In an article he produced as guest editor of Country Life magazine, Prince William says more must be done to make sure service women are shown respect and are protected from sexual harassment. It is the first time he has spoken out on the subject.

The piece draws on private meetings he held with service women of all ranks, across the Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. According to royal sources, these were his own fact-finding sessions. He will one day be head of the armed forces, and he is also a former serving officer, which he leans on in the text. He writes that he wants to help make the military feel as welcoming, open and professional for everyone as it did for him. Then he adds a blunt assessment: at the moment, he does not feel those standards are being met, and he says he really minds it when people who wear the uniform today do not feel safe, respected or valued.

What the women told him was specific. They described inappropriate comments, the threat of false rumours, and sexual harassment. Some spoke of rumours being spread about women who turned down sexual advances, and of harassment in barracks late at night. One junior service woman said women were treated as "commodities".

The article sets those accounts against figures from a Ministry of Defence survey. It found that 67% of service women had faced unwanted sexualised behaviour every year, and that 30% had considered leaving the armed forces because of it.

It also points to cases where the cost has been far higher. Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck took her own life at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire in 2021. She had endured months of unwanted attention and had reported a sexual assault. An inquest heard that the complaints system failed to respond adequately. Earlier this year, four young women told the BBC they were sexually assaulted and harassed at the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, which trains teenagers. One said she was raped by fellow junior soldiers in an attack that lasted hours.

The article is not only a list of failings. It describes efforts under way to build a more positive culture and to stamp out what it calls outdated thinking and behaviour. It highlights women who have had successful military careers, and shows how equipment such as body armour has been adapted for women, rather than assuming male personnel are the default.

The chief of the defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, responded by acknowledging that women's experience in the armed forces has not always been what it should be. Where behaviour and attitudes have fallen short of expected standards, he said, the forces must be honest about it and keep driving change.

What to watch now is whether the Army, Navy and RAF turn that language into concrete reforms, particularly given the Gunner Beck inquest findings and the allegations from Harrogate.