Prince Harry has been given a strong warning by the ex-Navy chief to turn down the Pat Tillman award.
Admiral Lord Alan West, who was First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff from 2002-06, suggested to the Spare author how to deal with the criticism.
Alan warned Harry that "he ought to think very hard and long" about accepting particular awards as it "doesn't travel well with people in the military.”
He also urged him to turn the Pat Tillman award down.
Alan told the Mail: "He ought to think very hard and long about accepting awards for things like being an exceptional pilot and being exceptionally brave. Some of the blame must lie with ESPN.”
“They like picking him because it gives them immense publicity. But this is rather bad publicity for Harry." Lord West advised the Duke to "to sit back and not accept awards like this,” he explained.
A petition to revoke the award has been reportedly signed by 70,000 people.
"It doesn't travel well with people in the military. And when the mother of the man who died doesn't want him to get this award, he should think about that,” he added, “My advice to him is to sit back and not accept any awards at the moment. They are going his way because has such a high profile and people want to take advantage of that."
