Rishi Sunak plans to revive ‘national service’ & the young royals will not be exempt

In my lifetime, various American politicians have suggested a “national service” scheme for young people, often some kind of “mandatory” or volunteer military service or community service. Those schemes rarely go anywhere, although programs like the Peace Corps are still highly competitive (and those successful programs should probably just be expanded). Well, now Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is running for reelection by introducing a “national service” scheme for young British people. It probably won’t go anywhere – especially since the Tories will likely face a historic loss in the general election on the 4th of July – but if Sunak’s scheme goes through, it means that young royals would also have to “serve” in the scheme.

Young royals will have to spend a year in the military or volunteer in the community under Conservative plans to revive National Service. Rishi Sunak made the first major policy announcement of the general election campaign on Sunday, vowing to bring back National Service for 18-year-olds. He said this would entail either a year on a military placement or spending one weekend of each month volunteering.

More details have now emerged about the scheme, including that there will be very limited exemptions from participation. The Conservative Party told The Telegraph that this included royal children being expected to take part. The Prince and Princess of Wales have three children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie also have young children who would be eligible to take part once they reach 18 as well as Prince Edward’s son, the Earl of Wessex, who is 16.

The Royal family has a long history of serving in the military. Prince William attended Sandhurst before spending seven-and-a-half years in full-time military service.

The Tories have also revealed how they plan to encourage teenagers to apply for the military scheme, including participants being potentially favoured when applying for jobs. One option that has been suggested is the introduction of fast-tracked routes into graduate schemes and the civil service for those who have taken part. Another proposal is that employers are encouraged to consider Armed Forces recruits during the hiring process and that participants are given the opportunity to highlight their military experience on their Ucas applications for university and apprenticeships. There will be 30,000 places on the 12-month military scheme each year, and it is hoped that it will be highly competitive.

[From The Telegraph]

Here in America, there are several programs which help employers prioritize military and former military job candidates. It’s sort of a remnant from how poorly veterans were treated post-Vietnam, there was a larger movement to help veterans get jobs, etc. I guess Britain doesn’t have any of that? As for the royal kids ending up in this national service scheme… the Windsors will argue that their lives are dedicated to service anyway, that’s why they live in palaces and castles, because they’re performing a “service” to the British people. Anyway, yeah, none of this is going to happen.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.