Trooper Harry's phone chats with Prince Charles from the front line

Prince Charles today revealed he has been chatting by phone to his soldier son Prince Harry on the front line in Afghanistan.

Charles, who has spoken to Harry three times since his deployment as an Apache helicopter co-pilot gunner, said: “It’s good Harry is phoning home, it’s so easy to do now with the internet.

“A letter is always good but you can’t beat a call home.”

The Prince of Wales revealed his secret chats during a military engagement on his Diamond Jubilee tour to Australia with the Duchess of Cornwall. He spoke before heading off to Sydney’s Bondi Beach to watch a game of beach rugby — where instead of lapping up the usual glorious sunshine he was caught in a hailstorm and had to shelter under an umbrella.

Charles talked about the power of the Apache to Major Karl Reynolds and military colleagues at Garden Island, home to the Royal Australian Navy’s largest Pacific Ocean base. He said of the helicopters: “They’re a nasty piece of work, I wouldn’t like to get in their way.” Major Reynolds, 33, who returned to Australia in July after a six-month deployment in Afghanistan, said: “He was talking about what a lethal bit of kit the Apache is — once the Taliban see it they disappear.”

Harry, 28, based at Camp Bastion, is on a four-month tour of duty. St James’s Palace said when he returned to Afghanistan in September that Charles was “immensely proud of his son”. Captain Harry Wales, as he is known in the Army, spent 10 days acclimatising and training, and will now be well into operations. His missions are likely to have varied from escorting RAF Chinook helicopters carrying servicemen or equipment, to targeting Taliban attackers on the ground.

As a gunner, he operates the Apache’s armoury of wing-mounted aerial rockets, Hellfire laser-guided missiles and a 30mm chain gun positioned directly under his seat. Harry’s tour coincides with Operation Herrick 17, the British military codename for current operations in Helmand province.

The prince made no secret of his desire to return to active service and spent the past three years changing the direction of his military career from an armoured reconnaissance troop leader to a helicopter pilot in order to be posted back to Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Camilla was being installed as Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Australian Corps of Military Police — her first honorary military title in Australia, and the first Colonel-in-Chief for the Corps. She said in a speech: “This is a very exciting time for me, not only because of the great honour you have done me but also because it is my first trip to Australia, and I deeply regret having left it so late.”

She and Charles later took a Sydney Harbour boat trip. They leave for Canberra tomorrow to meet prime minister Julia Gillard before flying to New Zealand, the last leg of their tour, which has also taken in Papua New Guinea.