( AFP ) - Prince William briefly visited troops in southern Afghanistan over the weekend, a spokesman for the royal told AFP Tuesday.
"He flew out as part of the air crew of a C-17 transport plane on Sunday morning, and landed in Kandahar where he spent about three hours on the ground being briefed on the operations of the RAF (Royal Air Force) and the base there," the spokesman said.
He added that William, second in line to the throne, then flew to an RAF base in Qatar where he spent around two hours being briefed, before flying back to Britain on Monday afternoon.
The spokesman said the trip had been planned for some time: "He's been on attachment with the RAF for three months, and learning how the RAF operates across the different aspects of the service. The culmination of that was to see the RAF in theatre."
Prince William's trip to Afghanistan comes little more than a month after his younger brother Harry completed a ten-week posting in the country, the first time a royal saw frontline action since the 1982 Falklands War with Argentina.