Britain’s Prince Charles has told son Prince Harry to write home more often.
The 28-year-old royal is currently serving on the frontline in Afghanistan and his father has joked he needs to communicate with his family a little more.
In a Christmas radio broadcast to the troops, he said with a smile that Harry’s replies to his letters were ”rare and precious”.
And Charles – whose older son, Prince William, is an RAF search-and-rescue pilot – told the troops in his message: ”With two sons serving in the armed forces, one of whom is with you all out there, I really do have at least some understanding of what your loved ones on the ‘home front’ are going through.”
The future king said the country owed a huge debt of gratitude to all the troops who are currently away from home.
He said: ”I am well aware of the discomfort and privations you all endure with seemingly endless reserves of good humour.
”In addition to the intense heat and dust of summer and the freezing winters, you face the constant, terrifying threat of IEDs, attacks from rockets, grenades and small arms fire almost every day.
”Sometimes these attacks come from infiltrators hidden among those who are supposed to be allies. And yet you all seem to bounce back in an almost unbelievable way, despite the setbacks and vicious insurgent attacks.
”Our country is incredibly lucky to have people like yourselves. We owe you an everlasting debt of gratitude.”
Harry, a co-pilot in an Apache helicopter gunship, is on his second tour of active duty in Afghanistan.”