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Prince Harry takes up first Australian deployment

Xinhua, April 7, 2015 Adjust font size:

Britain's Prince Harry was settling into his first Australian defense posting on Tuesday to kick off a month-long tour of duty down under.

He is now stationed in Darwin after arriving in Australia on Monday.

He has joined the Norforce reconnaissance regiment, made up of mostly indigenous troops who specialize in patrolling both wet and dry tropics of the Northern Territory.

The prince will later join Australian troops in Perth and Sydney.

Known as the "People's Prince," he will be addressed as Captain Harry Wales while on deployment with the various Australian forces he will serve with.

The prince's Perth deployment will be particularly poignant, as it is the base for Australia's Special Air Services troops who are world renowned for their covert fighting abilities on secret missions.

They found and eliminated an insurgent who had put a reward out for killing the prince while he was on his first of two tours of Afghanistan.

Exact details of Prince Harry's Australian assignments have been kept confidential.

But it has been widely reported he will fly helicopters at one of his deployments - a role he played in his 10 year British army career which will end soon after his Australian tour.

Meanwhile, a video recorded on a phone by one of an estimated 1, 500 people who came out to see Prince Harry, 30, when he visited the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Monday has emerged.

Widely broadcast in Australia, he is heard gently admonishing a young fan who requested a "selfie" photograph.

"Seriously, you need to get out of it," the prince can be heard saying.

"I know you're young, but selfies are bad. Just take a normal photograph!"

Another Canberra fan, 12-year-old red-head Ethan Toscan, has achieved his 15 minutes of global fame.

The prince singled him out and gave him a high-five and then pulled a funny face after the boy held up a sign saying "red heads rule!", referring to the prince's hair color.

Photographs of the moment have been published around the world. Endi