Updated: 19:48, Wednesday May 16, 2007

Prince Harry will not deploy with his regiment to Iraq following "specific threats" to target him by insurgents fighting British and US forces.

Harry training at SandhurstThe head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, said his presence in Iraq would expose the 22-year-old Prince as well as the troops serving with him to "a degree of risk that I now deem unacceptable".

In a statement, Clarence House admitted that the Prince was "very disappointed" that he would not be going with his squadron in the Household Cavalry.

But a spokesman insisted that he would not quit the Army.

Gen Dannatt said that he had finally reached the decision that the risks were too great after visiting Iraq himself at the end of last week.


"There have been a number of specific threats - some reported and some not reported - which relate directly to Prince Harry as an individual.

"These threats expose not only him but those around him to a degree of risk that I now deem unacceptable."

A number of leading insurgents have claimed in recent weeks that they had detailed plans to seize the Prince as hostage, even boasting that they had informants in the British camps who would tell them of his movements.

Sky News Foreign Editor Tim Marshall said it was because "he is a magnet for jihadists".

"Sending him in not only endangers those around him - the effect of being kidnapped would be a blow to the entire UK."