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Prince Harry has been called before his Army superiors for a “bollocking” after referring to a Pakistani platoon comrade as a “Paki”.

The commanding officer of the Household Cavalry has summoned the third-in-line to the throne for what has been described as a dressing-down “without coffee”.

Military sources said that Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Fullerton could fine or demote the Prince. The general view, however, was that the commanding officer would give him a sharp talking to and remind him of the standard of behaviour expected of an officer in the British Army.

Prince Harry appears in a video, which he filmed, walking among platoon comrades as they wait for a flight to Cyprus in 2006. He spots the Pakistani cadet and says: “Ah, our little Paki friend, Ahmed.”

The video, put on the News of the World website, also shows Prince Harry describing another platoon member as a “raghead” after his roving camera spotted an officer cadet with a camouflage scarf around his head. “F*** me, you look like a raghead,” the Prince opined. “Raghead” is an offensive term for an Arab.

He also pretended to be on the phone to the Queen, ending a conversation: “Granny, I’ve got to go, send my love to the corgis and Grandpa . . . bye, God save you . . . yeah, that’s great.”

The video was recorded a year after Prince Harry, who is now training with the Army Air Corps to be a helicopter pilot, was in trouble for wearing a swastika armband and a German Afrika Korps outfit to a fancy dress party.

The Pakistani colleague he was referring to was identified yesterday as Ahmed Raza Khan, now a captain in the Pakistani Army and who was then in Prince Harry’s training platoon at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He went on to win the coveted Overseas Sword, awarded to the best foreign officer cadet at Sandhurst for his intake.

The sword was presented to him by the Queen at the Sovereign’s Parade in April 2006 when he and Prince Harry passed out after successfully completing their 44-week course.

Last night Captain Khan’s father said he was “very, very hurt” by the “insult”. Khan Abbasi, a former bank vice-president who lives in the North West Frontier Province in Pakistan, said he had met Prince Harry when his own son had graduated from Sandhurst.

“I strongly condemn the disgraceful fact that Prince Harry used that language against my son,” he told the Daily Mail. “ That word he used is a hate word, and should never be used against any Pakistani.”

In the video Junior Officer Khan looks bemused by Prince Harry’s remark and does not smile.

Prince Harry apologised yesterday, saying that he had meant no harm to his Pakistani friend. A Clarence House source said: “It’s a feature of the Prince’s life that nothing is really ever private. He has had to learn the hard way. It was unwisely spoken but not malicious.”

Given his service in Afghanistan and his charity work, the view among senior officers was that a remark made three years ago should not be held against Lieutenant Wales. One source said: “Basically he is likely to get a bollocking, but it’s up to the commanding officer.”

The Ministry of Defence said in a statement: “The Army does not tolerate inappropriate behaviour in any shape or form. The Army takes all allegations of inappropriate behaviour very seriously and all substantive allegations are investigated. This case will be dealt with in line with normal army procedures.”

Captain Khan’s uncle, Iftakhar Raja, who lives in Britain, said: “‘Paki’ is definitely a derogatory remark. We expect better from our Royal Family.”

The Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, a former commanding officer who lost his position as homeland security spokesman for saying that racist terms were often used in the Army, said: “Whatever the context, Harry must have known that he was under constant scrutiny and that what he said was unacceptable.”

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said it was “a completely unacceptable thing to say”. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, said that if a member of his senior team had used the word “Paki”, he would almost certainly have been dismissed.

St James’s Palace said: “Prince Harry fully understands how offensive this term [Paki] can be and is extremely sorry for any offence his words might cause. There is no question that Prince Harry was in any way seeking to insult his friend.”

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