Doubt over Harry's return to action

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The Household Cavalry officer flew back to Britain after his tour of duty in Afghanistan was abruptly ended when foreign websites broke a media blackout on reporting details of his service.

Although chastened by the presence of two horrifically injured soldiers on his flight, Harry, 23, said he had already told his commanding officer he wanted to go back out "very, very soon".

But the head of the Armed Forces warned that the Prince could only see active service again if his presence would not put the wider mission at risk.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, said Harry was withdrawn from Afghanistan once the news broke because it would have increased the chances of attacks on the troops around him.

He said any future deployments by the Prince would depend on ensuring that that was not the case.

"I would have to be clear that the the risks to the operation in the widest sense of the people deployed on that operation would be no higher than they would normally be in such circumstances," he told Sky News's Sunday Live programme.

He refused to be drawn directly on the Prince's chances of going on future operations. "I'm quite simply not going to speculate on anybody's future deployment prospects," he said.

Harry arrived back at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on an RAF Tristar troop transporter. After completing immigration formalities, he was reunited with his father, the Prince of Wales, and his brother, Prince William.

Charles said he was "enormously proud" of his son, adding that he now understood what the families and loved ones of soldiers endured while they were serving abroad. "As you can imagine it's obviously a great relief as far as I'm concerned to see him home in one piece," he said.