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It happens to guys who have no direction in life. It would be nice if he decided to be a career man. Although it must make the ranks awkward.

I wouldn't be surprised if he spent quite a few years in the service - his father spent 5 or 6 years in the Royal Navy, his grandfather spent several years in the Navy (throughout WWII and beyond), his great-grandfather, King George VI, was at the Battle of Jutland, one of his uncles (Anne's husband) is a Rear Admiral in the Navy (he maybe retired), his uncle, Prince Andrew, spent 20+ years in the Navy. In other words, the Royals take military service seriously (it was a huge embarassment when his uncle Edward couldn't hack it in the Royal Marines). There was a show on one of the History channels recently (probably History International) that got into all of this (I'm not normally a walking encyclopedia of current Royal military service, I just remember the ones above, and I probably got some of them wrong).

I don't believe it makes the ranks awkward, I spent some time in the UK around a lot of military personnel, and while I wasn't around any Royals that I know of, from their attitude, I don't think they'd care who your parents were as long as you can pull your own weight.

If anything, a Royal not being able to pull their own weight (i.e. Edward) is cause for huge embarassment on the part of the Royal.

I don't believe it makes the ranks awkward, I spent some time in the UK around a lot of military personnel, and while I wasn't around any Royals that I know of, from their attitude, I don't think they'd care who your parents were as long as you can pull your own weight.

Definitely. I actually served for a time alongside the Duke of York - Prince Andrew, for those who have a hard time keeping the titles straight - and he acted as, and was treated as, any other Naval officer.

I didn't witness it myself but there was also a story circulating around about a time Princess Anne went onto a warship, some minor accident occurred (a cable gave way, I believe) and could have injured her. The officer responsible for that cable was quite publically reprimanded by the Captain. The fact that that officer was the Prince of Wales meant nothing.