Prince Charles sends British troops a Christmas message

Prince Charles

The Prince of Wales has paid tribute to British forces fighting in Afghanistan in a Christmas radio broadcast to troops serving overseas. Charles thanked the servicemen and women for their relentless courage and said the nation owed them "an everlasting debt of gratitude."

In his message, recorded last week at St James's Palace, the prince said all those stationed abroad were in his thoughts and prayers.

"I also wanted to pay tribute to the extraordinary contribution made by those of you who belong to our armed forces, in all sorts of different parts of the world," he said. "Nowhere is your fortitude and relentless courage more clearly on display than in Afghanistan, where your resilience, patience and determination to see the job through – usually in impossibly difficult conditions and circumstances – is, quite simply, humbling."

He joked about receiving a letter from his son Prince Harry, an Apache helicopter co-pilot gunner serving with the army air corps, who has been stationed at Camp Bastion since September.

Originally published in: The Guardian