Harry to receive campaign medal

The 23-year-old Prince, known as Lieutenant Wales, will be among around 160 members of the Household Cavalry who served there this winter to receive the decoration which will be presented by his aunt the Princess Royal.

After the ceremony at Combermere Barracks they will parade to Windsor's Garrison church, led by the band of the Blues and Royals, for a service in which British forces killed during the units recent six-month tour of duty to Helmand Province will be remembered.

The event will have be given added poignancy by the death on Friday of a member of Household Cavalry, Trooper Ratu Babakobau, 29, from Fiji, who was killed by a mine strike in Nowzad, northern Helmand. The regiment has a large Fijian component several of whom served alongside Harry in Afghanistan earlier this year.

The Prince and his brother William paid tribute to Trooper Babakobau at the weekend.

Harry secretly flew to Helmand Province in mid-December to work as a Forward Air Controller, having retrained after his earlier planned tour of duty to Iraq was cancelled because of the security risk generated by publicity.

But the intended four-month deployment was cut short after 10 weeks when a news blackout broke down at the end of February.

He qualifies for the Afghanistan Medal, having served well over the minimum four-week period required. It will be the second medal he is entitled to wear on regimental occasions, alongside the Golden Jubilee Medal, a gift from the Queen marking her 50-year reign in 2002.

He is the first member of the Royal Family to see active service in a theatre of war since his uncle Prince Andrew flew helicopters in the Falklands War 26 years ago.

During his time in Helmand he patrolled on foot 500m from Taliban lines, called in air strikes on enemy positions and commanded two Spartan light tank crews providing flank protection during an operation involving Afghan and US forces.