Prince Charles meets soldiers

Feb 12, 2010, 12:27 GMT

Britain's Prince Charles met with around 200 soldiers yesterday (11.02.10).

Charles - who is Colonel in Chief of the British Army - spoke to several of the troops from 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles and their families as they trained on Salisbury Plain, in Wiltshire, UK.

A lot of the soldiers worked alongside Charles' son Prince Harry when he was in Helmand in 2008 and Captain Chandra Pun showed the prince a photo of himself and Harry enjoying a Nepalese curry in their sleeping quarters in Afghanistan.

Chandra Pun told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "He laughed and said thanks for looking after my son. In Nepal we don't use knife and forks, we use our fingers. That was the first time I taught Prince Harry how to eat rice with his fingers.

"He asked a couple of questions about the boys. I told him we had done lots of training, most of the boys have lots of experience in Afghanistan, we are very confident and looking forward to it."

Charles was presented with a garland of the battalion's colours - red, green and black, which he wore throughout the visit.

He toured military equipment in a hangar and struggled with the weight of a 45lb backpack which two Gurkhas helped to put on his shoulders.

It was his first visit to the battalion since 2008.