Prince Harry completes Army training

LONDON - Britain's Prince Harry passes out as an army officer today before joining the elite Household Cavalry, a role that could mean being sent to conflict zones like Iraq or Afghanistan.

Before his father, Prince Charles and grandmother the Queen, Harry, 21, will take part in the traditional Sovereign's Day parade at Sandhurst military academy.

The third in line to the throne has spent 11 months getting up at 6am for marching drills and training exercises as officer cadet Wales. His elder brother William is still working his way through the 44-week Sandhurst programme.

Harry - once dubbed by newspapers the royal "wild child" for his underage drink and drug antics - will join the Blues and Royals regiment of the Cavalry.

The Ministry of Defence has said it is possible that Harry, who will join the armoured reconnaissance unit of the Blues and Royals, could serve in conflict zones with his squadron.

The Household Cavalry is also tasked with protecting the Queen on ceremonial occasions, but the prince will be serving in the Armoured Division, not the Mounted Regiment.

Harry, whose mother Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, said last year he wanted a frontline role in the army.

"There is no way I am going to put myself through Sandhurst and then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country," he said in a string of interviews published to mark his 21st birthday last September.

Harry had chosen the Blues and Royals because had been impressed by its actions in conflict zones, the Palace said.

The flame-haired prince sparked international outrage last year when he wore a Nazi uniform to a costume party two weeks before Queen Elizabeth led Holocaust memorial ceremonies. He later said it had been a "very stupid thing" to do.

Eyebrows were also raised at the weekend when he and a group of friends visited a strip club to celebrate the end of the Sandhurst course.

Andrew Parker Bowles, ex-husband of Harry's stepmother Camilla, who married Prince Charles a year ago, also served with the Blues and Royals.

The Household Cavalry has been at the forefront of Britain's military operations, including the Falklands war in 1982, the 1990 Gulf war and, more recently, in Bosnia and Kosovo.

- REUTERS