(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-02 21:00

LONDON -- Prince Harry was on Sunday spending his first full day back in Britain after a tour of duty in Afghanistan, but amid claims that coverage of his mission was propaganda for a failed military strategy.

Britain 's Prince Harry on his arrival at RAF Brize Norton in Oxforshire on March 1, 2008. Prince Harry was on Sunday spending his first full day back in Britain after a tour of duty in Afghanistan, but amid claims that coverage of his mission was propaganda for a failed military strategy. [Agencies]

The 23-year-old's time fighting the Taliban in the volatile Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan has dominated the British media since a prominent US website blew his cover on Thursday, forcing military brass to pull him out.

Britain's domestic Press Association news agency put out 11,548 words within an hour of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirming the Drudge Report story.

On Friday, there were 56 pages of coverage in eight national newspapers, with headlines like "Harry the Brave" and "Harry the Secret Hero." The Sun tabloid published 11 pages, plus a poster of him on patrol.

All included photographs of the flame-haired prince: riding a motorbike in the desert, Steve McQueen style; with his shirt off playing rugby; in combat fatigues on patrol; or behind a machine gun, firing at insurgent positions.

Harry and the head of the British Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, have said the blanket coverage could help better inform the public about Britain's mission in Afghanistan -- and also in Iraq, which remains unpopular here.

Dannatt's predecessor, General Sir Mike Jackson, told BBC television Sunday the coverage was "not unhelpful" for recruitment, saying Harry had summed up the sense of comradeship and common purpose among serving soldiers.

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