THE QUEEN found her grandson without any trouble when she reviewed the lines of officer cadets at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst yesterday.

She gave Prince Harry a broad smile. His cheeks appeared to redden, possibly in anticipation of being ribbed later by the cadets next to him who were not selected for a chat with their Sovereign. He also grinned — apparently not a breach of military etiquette.

In glorious sunshine, the Prince passed out at Sandhurst with a one-off salute from his older brother, Prince William, a moment he probably enjoyed but had better not get used to.

Sandhurst had never seen so many photographers, lining up to snap Prince Harry as he completed the final ceremony after his 44-week course. He was easy to spot. Alone among the officer cadets, he was wearing on his chest a vigorously polished Jubilee Medal. Others in the Armed Forces had to have served for five years to be eligible for the medal honouring the Queen’s Jubilee.

Later, Prince Harry, now a fully fledged second lieutenant of The Household Cavalry, saluted in unison with his brother as they both bade farewell to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh after a formal lunch in the dining hall of Old College.

“This is a very special occasion for me, as it is for all of you who are gaining your commissions today,” the Queen said in an address to the senior cadets. The Queen, in a tan coat, was accompanied in the reviewing dais by the Duke, Major-General Andrew Ritchie, Sandhurst Commandant, and his wife, Camilla, dressed in yellow.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, dressed in dark purply blue, sat in the front seats to the left of the dais.

The 21-year-old Harry, who will now earn £60.11p a day (£21,940 a year) as a second lieutenant in The Blues and Royals, one half of The Household Cavalry, marched unexceptionally during the hour-long ceremony. By contrast, some of his Sandhurst mates were so bent backwards and chin up they appeared on the verge of falling.

But there were no dramas, apart from the odd wayward movement of Winston, the white horse being ridden by Major Stephen Segrave, the Academy Adjutant and Irish Guards officer who commanded the parade. Major Segrave ended the ceremony by riding Winston up the steps of Old College. Minutes earlier, the officer cadets, including 23 women and 16 overseas cadets, had marched up the steps as the Coldstream Guards band played Auld Lang Syne. As they did so they changed from officer cadets to second lieutenants: the official passing-out.

At midnight, during an all-night ball in New College, Sandhurst, the Prince and newly commissioned officers observed another tradition. They were wearing mess kits, but with their one second-lieutenant pip covered by sticky tape. They ripped off the tape as fireworks burst into the sky. Chelsy Davy, the Prince’s girlfriend, was with him at the ball.

The Prince, to be known as Cornet Wales, will now have five months of training at Bovington, Dorset, learning about armoured reconnaissance, then a stint at Windsor.

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