As the Prince of Wales and Prince William greeted Prince Harry on his return from Afghanistan, a Bolton soldier has described life on the front line with the Royal Prince.

Lance Corporal Steve Halliwell came face to face with Prince Harry during a tank mission in the lawless Helmand Province.

The 27-year-old, from Westhoughton, is in the Royal Signals Corps and has spent the past six months attached to the prince's regiment, the Household Cavalry, during his tour of duty.

He said: "It's an honour working with him, but it was weird sleeping next to him in the lean-to.

"It will be something to tell the grandkids when I get older."

L/Cpl Halliwell, who is normally based at Nuneaton, Warwickshire, with 258 Signal Squadron, had been working at a string of British outposts known as "Fobs" - Forward Operating Bases - across Helmand, providing communications expertise.

It was on his return to one in January after a two-week trip home that he first met the 23-year-old prince.

"I came back from R&R and when I stepped out of the wagon, he was standing there. It was a double-take moment," said L/Cpl Halliwell, who is nicknamed "Geri" after the Spice Girl with the same surname.

"It was weird really, they kept that quiet.

"Obviously, it was a bit hush-hush, nobody knew about it in the UK."

Keep in touch with all the latest news HERE.

He was not the only one to be surprised.

He said: "In work, I was sat on the comms set, somebody walked in and said That lad there looks like Prince Harry, doesn't he?' "I just said That's because it is'."

Following the cancellation of Harry's intended deployment to Iraq last year because of a security threat, tentative plans to send him to Afghanistan instead were shrouded in secrecy from the start.

The prince - a "cornet" or second lieutenant in the Blues and Royals - was not sent to Helmand Province with the rest of the Household Cavalry Battlegroup last autumn.

He joined them in December after retraining as a military air controller known as a joint terminal attack controller (JTAC) rather than a light tank troop leader.

Under a deal between Clarence House, the Ministry of Defence and the media, newspapers and broadcasters agreed a news blackout to prevent details of his movements reaching the Taliban and putting him or other soldiers at risk.

But news of his posting emerged yesterday on an American website. The MoD has now announced the prince will be immediately withdrawn from Afghanistan.

It said in a statement: "This decision has been taken primarily on the basis that the worldwide media coverage of Prince Harry in Afghanistan could impact on the security of those who are deployed there, as well as the risks to him as an individual soldier."

As well as working alongside the prince, L/Cpl Halliwell soon came under Harry's direct command when he joined the four-man crew of a Spartan light tank. Surviving on 24-hour rations and bottled water, the crew - part of C Squadron of the Household Cavalry - took part in a series of manoeuvres in the desert.

Braving weather which ranged from snow to sand storms, he lived and worked alongside the prince, and sleeping in a "shell scrape" hole covered with a tarpaulin attached to the vehicle as a lean-to.

Speaking earlier this month, his thoughts were already turning to home and girlfriend Nichola Whyte, aged 22.

"The things about Bolton I miss are my girlfriend, obviously, friends, family, alcohol and just the normal civilian life really," he said.