News Headlines at ALWAYSHOTNEWS.com

In pictures: Soldier Harry

Today`s Top Picks

It`s party time

Harry flies home from Afghanistan REVELLERS party with pride at a Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras that included a strong dose of history.
Mardi Gras highlights

Have Your Say

Latest Comments:

Now that His Highness is out will his remaining mate be any safer?
Posted by: Charles of Perth 5:03pm today

Lisa Of Melbourne grow up or shut up.
Posted by: Dave of Brisbane 4:44pm today

Yeah, good on yah New Idea (or perhaps that's No Idea). Risking the life of Prince Harry and those men who are serving with him would have to be one of the most irresponsible actions I've seen yet (concerning the media) - and the reason for this, money, notoriety, more sales??- grrr to the media. Guess I'll be one of those Australians who will NOT buy this magazine, as the standards it sets are too low.
Posted by: blobby 4:42pm today

Read all 41 comments

We welcome your comments on this story. Comments are submitted for possible publication on the condition that they may be edited. Please provide your full name. We also require a working email address - not for publication, but for verification. The location field is optional.Read our publication guidelines.

Submit your feedback here:

Search for more stories on this topic on Newstext, our news archive service. Click here

Video

Watch this Video NOW!

Week in review

NEWS.com.au looks back at the big stories of the week.

Latest videos

Tools

`Bullet magnet` Harry home after cover blown
Charles tells of pride, worry for his son
In pictures: Prince Harry in Afghanistan

PRINCE Harry has returned to Britain from Afghanistan today after a 10-week tour fighting the Taliban, and was reunited with his father Prince Charles and elder brother William.

An unmarked military plane carrying the 23-year-old touched down at Royal Air Force Base Brize Norton near Oxford, south central England, after he was pulled out of war-torn Afghanistan on security grounds.

Harry, a junior officer in the Household Cavalry, had been in the volatile southern province of Helmand since mid-December but foreign media broke a news blackout deal arranged with Britain`s defence ministry.

Prince Harry the soldier
Multimedia Package

Prince Harry in Afghanistan
Related story

New Idea under fire over Harry leak
Related story

They will be out to get me - Harry
Related story

`Di proud, but I worry about the guys`
Related story

I wish I wasn`t a prince, says Harry
Related story

Harry`s strikes on `Terry Taliban`

Prince Charles, who said he struggled to keep his son`s mission under wraps, said he was happy to see his son back safe and sound as he and Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid tribute to his and other British troops` efforts.

"It`s an incredible relief to see him back in one piece," he said. "It is obviously marvellous to see him back and I`m enormously proud of what he`s done."

"I do so understand what it`s like for so many other families and loved ones of those serving on operations, what they have to endure.

"Having met so many of the families when I go to visit some of my regiments, I know what it`s like when they`re so far away and don`t know what`s going on. It`s much worse in a way for those left behind."

Charles also paid tribute to British forces, whose risky work he said the public did not often appreciate, highlighting that Harry`s plane was delayed as it stopped en-route for three injured soldiers to receive medical treatment.

"While being incredibly proud of Harry I am equally proud, for what it`s worth, of all the dedicated service given by all our armed forces."

Still wearing camouflage fatigues and carrying his kit and body armour, Harry, who is third in line to the throne, filed down the steps of the RAF blue-coloured Tristar jet behind some 170 other returning British soldiers.

There was no official welcome on the tarmac and he later left with William, 25, in a chauffeur-driven car, reportedly for their father`s nearby country residence, after completing administrative formalities in the terminal.

Harry is the first British royal to see frontline action since his uncle, Prince Andrew, flew as a naval helicopter pilot during the 1982 Falklands War with Argentina.

He had been due to go to Iraq last year, but military top brass performed an about-turn amid concern about his security and that of his fellow soldiers.

Television pictures aired since US website Drudge Report broke the embargo have shown him calling in air strikes on Taliban positions and firing at insurgents with a machine gun. New Idea magazine also said it accidentally broke the blackout.

His work has won wide praise from his grandmother the Queen, political and military leaders, and also claims that he is frustrated at having to leave early but is itching to return to frontline duties.

The Sun tabloid also claimed army officer William - who recently began training as a Royal Air Force pilot - will be commissioned into the Royal Navy and serve on a frigate or destroyer in a world troublespot later this year. The defence ministry refused to comment.

Until Friday, Harry was operating with a light tank squadron in the desert outside the former Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala, that British and Afghan troops seized last December.

Harry, a second lieutenant in the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry, also commanded a seven-strong Spartan vehicle team supporting a major US and Afghan army push last week to clear a route through to the Kajaki Dam.

The prince - who has gained a reputation for hard-partying and attracting trouble at home - said in Afghanistan he enjoyed being away from the glare of media publicity.

But he acknowledged his tour could make him a "top target" for extremists and said he had been nicknamed "bullet magnet".

"Once this ... comes out there`ll probably be every single person, every single person that supports them will be trying to slot me," he said while still on his deployment.

Harry, pursued around London by paparazzi every time he goes out, revelled in the anonymity of being a soldier in Afghanistan.

"It`s very nice to be a normal person for once, I think this is about as normal as I`m ever going to get."

- AFP, Reuters

NEWS.com.au is not responsible for the content of external sites.

In pictures: Soldier Harry