Prince Harry is frustrated that he had to return from Afghanistan without his unit, says Prince Charles, his father.
"It's obviously a great relief, as far as I'm concerned, to see him home in one piece," Charles told reporters on Saturday.
"With Harry's own plane coming back just now, they had to stop and drop off three badly wounded people who had been blown up by mines and it brings home just how hazardous it is."
Prince Harry did a 10-week combat stint in Afghanistan's Helmand province. His Household Cavalry unit will return in April after a nearly six-month deployment.
Prince Charles, and brother, Prince William were on hand Saturday to greet Harry's arrival at Brize Norton air base in southern England.
Harry -- a cornet, or second lieutenant in the British Army -- didn't speak to reporters.
He is third in line to the throne and is the first royal to serve in combat since his uncle, Prince Andrew, flew helicopters during the 1983 Falklands War.
Harry's presence in Afghanistan had been kept under wraps in an agreement between the military and major British news organizations. However, a magazine and website broke the story and revealed details of his deployment.
Ingrid Seward, a British royals watcher, told Â鶹´«Ã½net that the deployment is being given massive treatment by the news media there.
The British Army decided against deploying Harry in Iraq last year because they felt he would be a magnet for insurgent attacks, putting both the prince and his fellow soldiers at even greater risk.
The same logic was followed in deciding to remove Harry from Afghanistan once it became publicly known he was there.
Britain has about 7,800 troops operating in Afghanistan, with 7,300 of those in Helmand. That province sits next to Kandahar province, where Canada's 2,500 troops are operating.
William, second in line to the throne, will likely serve overseas at some point, probably on a Royal Navy warship.
"It's our intention to give Prince William as full a taste of life in the Royal Navy as possible," a Navy spokesman said.
Unlike his older brother, Harry has had his image problems, having once been photographed at a party with a Nazi swastika on his arm. He has otherwise cultivated a party-boy reputation.
His Afghan deployment will no doubt help his standing among the British public, Seward said.
"We're not a particularly patriotic nation," she said. "I think everyone feels very proud that Harry wants to serve his country alongside ordinary other soldiers."
Rafal Heydel-Mankoo, editor of "Burke's Peerage and Gentry," told Newsnet that Harry undoubtedly appreciated a chance to be a normal person and "one of the lads" while in Afghanistan.
He described the stint as a "public relations triumph" for Harry, who has moved from being "the party prince to the warrior prince."
However, "we'll see how the press treats him once he returns to the bars and clubs of London," Heydel-Mankoo said.
With files from The Associated Press
