Prince Harry Hits Sandhurst

Royal Known For PR Gaffes Enters British Army's Academy

(CBS)  Whatever the reason, Phillips says, Harry's been a public relations problem for a family that doesn't need another one.

Sandhurst, says former palace press secretary Dickie Arbiter, should fix that: "I don't think he'll be a public relations problem once he gets into Sandhurst and he knuckles down. They'll show him no quarter there."

The latter sentiment was echoed by Maj. Gen. Andrew Ritchie, the Sandhurst College Commandant: "He would not expect to be treated any differently, and we certainly will not treat him any differently. He will stand or fall on his own merits as a young cadet."

Sandhurst may not cut Harry any slack, but people who know the prince say the public should.

They point out that Harry has shown a good side, too, packing tsunami aid boxes, for example.

Harry himself has said he wants to be doing "exactly what any normal British person would be doing. We're not exempt from what everybody else does."

"But," says Colleen Harris, a former press secretary to princes, "they are…human, and I think that's the lovely thing about William and Harry that we have seen a lot of that, which we haven't seen in the past with the royal family: They are just normal boys with normal feelings, normal expectations, normal dreams, hopes, just the same as everyone else. "

But, Phillips remarks, they are young men in extraordinary circumstances.

"They get it wrong sometimes," Harris adds.

For the next while, Maj. Gen. Ritchie, Harry's new commanding officer, will be trying to make sure Harry gets it right: "We often say that many of the young men and women who arrive here have been used to working for four hours and sleeping for 20, and we generally reverse that."

There's a lot about Harry it's hoped Sandhurst will reverse, Phillips says.

The Sandhurst regime is a tough one, especially for the first five weeks, where it's 6 a.m. starts, lots of boot polishing and uniform ironing. And cadets are not supposed to leave the grounds and, in what Phillips says may be toughest of all for Harry, they're not supposed to consume any alcohol.