Military veterans fear terrorists could target the Invictus Games to avenge the 25 Taliban fighters killed by Prince Harry.
Experts tonight said security at this autumn’s event for wounded soldiers will be “a nightmare”.
There are also fears Harry has jeopardized any event he attends – and that he could be regarded in the same vein as The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.
Admiral Lord West, former head of the Navy, told the Sunday Mirror: “The Invictus Games is very much labelled to him and so I would have thought the threat level there will definitely be higher.
“There will be serious security issues because of what he said. Measures will have to be put in place to protect the veterans.
“And there will be people who, given half the chance, will want to do something.”
He called Harry “very stupid” for giving details of his Taliban kills.
In his autobiography – titled Spare – Harry referred to the Afghanistan war victims as “chess pieces”.
Lord West went on: “The Taliban will be reading it thinking there’s this prince calling us all chess pieces and is quite happy about killing us.
“And there will be a lot of people, I am sure, in Islamic State and other terrorist organizations, who will think this is something which should be avenged.”
But after Harry’s revelation, former head of royal protection Dai Davies says: “There will now need to be added security. There have been examples, like in the Manchester Arena bombing, where you get a nutter who thinks ‘we can’t get to them because they’re too well protected, so we’ll blow some innocents up’.
“You only need one idiot who thinks Allah has told him to go and do Allah’s will, as they see it, and you have a problem.”
Stefan Bisanz, who has advised the German Federal Ministry of Defence, said: “Everyone who has invited him to attend a conference or an event – Prince Harry has now endangered them all. They all now really need to rethink their security measures, which definitely include the Invictus Games.
“I would say that, based on what he has just done, the security threat to Prince Harry is now almost as great as to Salman Rushdie. He has potentially even put himself right up at the top of their hit list.”
This year’s Games will be held in Dusseldorf, Germany, in September.
