I don't doubt his desire to lead by example or the resolve of prince Harry to do his duty. He is a good man and a good soldier.
What I am trying to convey is that his mere presence as a symbol of the Realm as you state makes him and those around him, including soldiers who are just trying to do their job and come home with their ass attached, a bigger target.
His presence is endangering his fellow soldiers more so than if he was not there or serving in relative anominity.
Continued photo OPs and press coverage of his deployment and location are making others vulnerable to attack.
There is no way to calculate that extra cost my friend.
The fact still remains -- his presence is doing far more good for the overall war effort, than the cost of extra protection. (Not to mention that the extra protection is only needed, because the traitorous media outed his position.)
The American flag seems to be a popular target for extremists everywhere. A lot of good men have died protecting it. Why not simply take it down from the flagpole at every embassy and foreign military base? Preposterous you say? No more so than removing HRC Prince Henry of Wales from the battlefield, for the reasons you put forward.
Your efforts to denigrate his real service, by suggesting that they're nothing but photo ops, is noted.
BRITISH army chiefs slam Australian gossip mag New Idea for breaking a secrecy deal and revealing that Prince Harry was on the front line in Afghanistan, while the gung-ho royal tells how he fought off "Terry Taliban" with a machine gun.