Prince Harry serving in Afghanistan

23 year old Prince Harry, third in line to the British crown has spent the past 10 weeks secretly serving in war-ravaged Helmand Province and was there over Christmas. He directed bombers to drop their first bombs on New Year’s Eve.

Matt Drudge broke the story that the British press had kept under wraps for three months.

The prince, a junior officer in the Blues and Royals, and third in line to the throne, has been a “magnificent soldier” and an “inspiration to all of Briton.”

Ministry of Defense and Clarence House refuse all comment. Army chiefs have managed to keep the prince away from media and have encourage fellow soldiers in his squadron to stay quiet.

He initially flew out in December to work on the ground at a remote British desert outpost in the south of Helmand province close to the Pakistan border.

But within days of his arrival at Forward Operating Base Dwyer he was ordered forward to the semi-deserted town of Garmsmir, on the southernmost front line, to serve alongside a detachment of Gurkha troops.

The base sits just over 500 metres from the Taliban trenches across First World War-style no-man’s-land and comes under attack from rockets, RPGs, mortars and machine gun rounds an average of five times a day.

He also had the responsibility of preventing friendly fire deaths, setting co-ordinates for bomb drops and protecting aircraft from flying mortars and artillery.

He dropped his first bombs on New Year’s Eve, targeting three 500lb detonations on a network of Taliban bunkers via two US F15 jets.

The prince said his grandmother the Queen was the one who told him he would be sent to the front line.

She was a strong supporter of his desire to serve on the front line despite his position, he said. He said the monarch had been “relieved” when it was agreed he would finally be able to do the job he had trained to do.

Prince Harry is serving with Gurkha troops were from Nepal that have been part of the British Army since 1817. Their numbers have been sharply reduced from a World War II peak of 112,000 men, and now stand at about 3,500. The soldiers are still selected from young men living in the hills of Nepal - with about 28,000 youths tackling the selection procedure for just over 200 places each year.

The selection process has been described as one of the toughest in the world and is fiercely contested. Young hopefuls have to run uphill for 40 minutes carrying a wicker basket on their back filled with rocks weighing 70lbs. After the Gurkhas have served their time in the Army - a maximum of 30 years, and a minimum of 15 to secure a pension - they are discharged back in Nepal.

If there was a minute’s silence for every Gurkha casualty from World War II alone, we would have to keep quiet for two weeks.

“Better to die than be a coward” is the motto of the world-famous Nepalese Gurkha soldiers who are an integral part of the British Army.

They still carry into battle their traditional weapon - an 18-inch long curved knife known as the kukri.

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