Prince William flew out from RAF Brize Norton in West Oxfordshire to Afghanistan to meet frontline troops, it has been confirmed.
The Prince met service personnel at Kandahar airfield for three hours on Monday, before returning to the UK later that afternoon, it was confirmed last night.
The purpose of the trip was for the Prince to familiarise himself with RAF operations in a battle situation.
The Prince of Wales and the Queen gave their consent to the trip, Clarence House said.
During the exercise the Prince flew a C-17 Globemaster military transport plane which left RAF Brize Norton on Sunday, arriving in Afghanistan the next day.
He spent three hours chatting to personnel at Kandahar before flying on to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The whole trip lasted around 30 hours, the spokesman said.
Secrecy surrounded William's visit, which was classified as confidential.
The Prince's visit to Afghanistan comes after his brother Prince Harry served in Helmand Province for 10 weeks.
Harry became the first member of the Royal Family to serve on the military front line in the stricken country.
His tour of duty was cut short after a media blackout broke down, and he flew back to RAF Brize Norton.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article