PRINCE Harry showed he still had some of his old playful side when he arrived home wearing a badge of Tommy Hilfiger, the American fashion designer, doctored to say “Taliban Hillfighter”.

But in an interview at RAF Brize Norton he shrugged off the label of a hero, insisting: “The bravery of the guys out there was humbling.”

Harry, who worked as a battlefield air controller in Afghanistan, told of the moment he realised his active service was being brought to an abrupt end – when he overheard coded radio messages about him.

The prince spoke of the huge responsibility of his task deploying planes to drop bombs on enemy positions.

He described the men he left behind as “gutted”, but added that he had finally fulfilled his dream of serving as a tank troop leader.

Harry, who was third out of 18 in his class when training for his role in Afghanistan, said: “You do what you have to do, what’s necessary to save your own guys.

“If you need to drop a bomb, worst-case scenario, then you will, but then that’s just the way it is.

“It’s not nice to drop bombs . . . but to save lives that’s what happens.”

He said he had been in the desert close to the former Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala when the news of his impending withdrawal broke.

He said: “When I first heard about it I was on stag [duty] listening to the radio and people were talking about me in code words and I gathered it was actually about me after a short time.

“But whatever has happened has happened and it doesn’t surprise me – there’s always someone out there who is willing to ruin the party. But, well, job’s done.”

Having taken part in an operation commanding a Spartan light tank with C Squadron of the Household Cavalry, Harry had just taken over from his troop leader, who had gone home for two weeks’ leave.

The prince, whose first royal engagement was as a child sitting in a tank as he visited troops in Germany with his mother, agreed that his time in Afghanistan was one of the happiest in his life.

Harry also praised the British media for keeping the secret that he was in Afghanistan for as long as they did.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Times Christmas appeal: Letter from the Editor
• Conferences — what a waste of money
• Schools supremo learns a painful lesson