Updated 16.30 29 February

The British Ministry of Defence has just announced that Prince Harry is to be withdrawn from Afghanistan immediately, after his cover was blown yesterday by an influential website.

Prince Harry on foot patrol in Afghanistan

Reaction around the world has been very favourable to Harry’s deployment, in which he managed to serve for 10 of his 12 week term.

In an online poll on Sky News Australia, 78 percent said it was wrong for the Australiam women’s magazine, New Idea (locally known as No Idea) to have leaked Prince Harry’s deployment back in early January. New Idea’s website was flooded with readers expressing horror and calling for the resignation of its editor.

Readers called its journalists “guttersnipes”, “money-hungry idiots”, “morons” and “selfish parasites”, and that they were an embarrassment to Australians living abroad. Australians are nothing if not forthright in expressing their views.

Perhaps this now puts the current silence of Prince William and Kate Middleton into some sort of perspective. Royal Anecdotes believes both Kate and Chelsy have agreed not to be seen out partying while Harry is fighting in Afghanistan where 89 British soldiers have died in recent months.

One newspaper comments, “The Prince dismissed fears that he is a ‘bullet magnet’, swore he does not miss ‘anything’ [about his life in the UK], and said he believed his mother was proud of him. He made no reference to girlfriend Chelsy Davy.”

This could be to protect her from association with him. In an interview last week, Harry conceded that on his return to the UK, he could be a “top target” for homegrown jihadists sympathetic to the Taliban. “Once this comes out, every single person that supports them will be trying to slot me,” he said.

I don’t wish to stir this up, but maybe Chelsy should be given some protection too.

Update: The British Commander in Afghanistan has just said that Prince Harry flourished in the difficult environment of the country and served with distinction. I wonder if that means a “mention in dispatches” or even a Distinguished Service Medal?

The Press Association has reported that Prince Harry has been serving on the front line in Afghanistan for 10 weeks. The news was leaked by The Drudge Report and reluctantly confirmed by the Ministry of Defence.

It seems likely that Harry will be recalled, as he will now become the one and only target of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

The PA report states :

Prince Harry has been fighting the Taliban on the front line in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.

The 23-year-old Household Cavalry officer has spent the past 10 weeks secretly serving in war-ravaged Helmand Province.

The deployment had been cloaked in secrecy under a news blackout deal agreed across the UK media to prevent details reaching the Taliban and endangering Harry and his comrades.

But the arrangement has broken down after news was leaked out on the US website the Drudge Report.

As part of the deal a group of journalists had visited the Prince in Helmand on condition that details would only be publicised once he was safely back in the UK.

The deal was arranged after Harry’s planned tour to Iraq last year had to be cancelled because of a security risk sparked by publicity.

After the disappointment over Iraq, when Harry was due to work as a Scimitar light tank troop leader, he retrained as a battlefield air controller known as a JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller) with a view to going to Afghanistan.

He flew out on December 14, two months into the current winter tour.

He spent several weeks working in Garmsir in the far south of Helmand Province, operating just 500m from front line Taliban positions. He has since left Garmsir to work in another part of Helmand Province, details of which can not be reported for security reasons.

There is no immediate steer from the Ministry of Defence on the future of his deployment.

Let us hope they move him to a place of safety. After 10 weeks, he deserves his medal.

Update: ITN’s Political Editor is suggesting that Harry’s deployment is now over. Everyone is amazed they managed to keep it quiet this long. He was due to stay until April, but will return home a hero having fought on the front line and controlled aircraft movements over various battlefields.

ITN has lengthy interviews with him on the ground. He seems fit, happy and glad to be there. The Queen and Prince Charles have said how proud they are of him, and Prince William has written to him saying how proud their mother would be at this moment.

It’s a leap year so, in England anyway, girls are allowed to reverse the normal convention and propose to their swains.

Will Kate Middleton take the plunge?

Kate may be keeping her powder dry until February 29 — a mere four days away — when she might make her intentions plain and fall on one knee to plight her troth to a startled Prince.

It’s not the stuff of fairy tales, I grant you, but Kate is no shrinking violet, and sometimes taking your chances in both hands is the only way to carry the day — especially if your beloved is prone to … ahem! … dithering — just a little.

Now, let me make clear, this is not Royal Anecdotes’ advice to Kate Middleton. She is quite able to make up her own mind and assess the situation for herself. We merely point out that an opportunity is there, if she wants to take it.

Of course, William may know this and is being a true gentleman in leaving the space open for her. It’s make your mind up time, Kate.

For both their sakes, let’s hope they’ve already made the decision and no bended knee is necessary on the 29th.

For those who didn’t see the splendid five-part BBC documentary Monarchy: The Royal Family At Work, Amazon has the DVD out tomorrow, Monday.

Amazon.co.uk is offering a 40pc reduction at a value price of only £14 (around $27).

The documentary was shot by RDF Media for the BBC and caused a furore at the press launch when the Queen was said to have “stormed out in a huff” from a photoshoot with American star photographer, Annie Leibovitz. The footage actually showed her walking briskly into the session.

Some very senior executives lost their jobs in both RDF and the BBC before the matter was finally resolved and a re-edited version agreed with Buckingham Palace.

The scene — now shown in the correct sequence — is the first to be shown in Episode 1 of the series.

If you are at all interested in British Royalty — and you wouldn’t be reading this if you weren’t — this is a must have collectors’ item. The DVD also has a bonus of half an hour of unbroadcast material, so contains around six hours of truly sumptuous viewing.

Let’s hope the extra footage has been cut in the right order.