London - Britain's Prince William Wednesday won both praise and intense criticism for making a secret flying visit to troops in Afghanistan in a military transport plane - during which he was at the controls for part of the flight. The 25-year-old prince, second in line for the British throne, flew a C-17 Globemaster military transport plane to Kandahar airfield where he spent three hours meeting troops on Monday, the royal household confirmed.
The 30-hour trip, aimed at boosting the morale of the 8,000 British soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, was conducted in secret for security reasons.
Its purpose was for William, a trained pilot, to familiarise himself with Royal Air Force (RAF) operations in a battle situation, said a royal official, who described the mission as a "success."
"The whole trip passed without a hitch," said the royal spokesman.
William's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and father, the Prince of Wales, had given their consent to the mission.
But critics Wednesday described the flight, made at taxpayers' expense, as a "publicity stunt" and suggested that brotherly rivalry could have played a part.
William, who as future king is unlikely to see active service, is known to envy his younger brother Harry, who served 10 weeks in Afghanistan's Helmand province earlier this year.
Harry's secret army deployment was was cut short in February for security reasons after his presence in the volatile province was leaked to the media.
"I know he would love to come out here," Harry, 23, said of his elder brother, adding jokingly that William was "jealous" of his deployment in Helmand.
Unlike Harry, who is planning an army career, William is expected to leave the armed forces after an attachment to the Royal Navy this summer.
But while Harry's stint on the front line won all-round praise, his older brother's love of flying has earned him the reputation of a "joyrider."
Since graduating as an RAF pilot earlier this month, Flying Officer Wales, as William is known, has used RAF Chinook helicopter training flights to attend private parties, and even landing in the garden of his girlfriend, Kate Middleton.
Commentators said Wednesday that William's Afghan tour was aimed at offsetting the criticism of his earlier sorties.
"It is a good publicity exercise for William, in view of the bad publicity when he was dropping in on Kate Middleton's family in an RAF helicopter," publicists Max Clifford said.
Former royal protection officer Ken Wharfe agreed that the flight was a publicity stunt. "I think the cynics amongst us will say it's an attempt to cover up the Chinook jollies."
Britain's Stop The War coalition, which is opposed to the presence of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, described the trip as a "shameful waste of public money.
Spokesman Andrew Bergin accused the Ministry of Defence and the royal family of "manipulating the media to cleanse the prince's joyriding, tarnished image."
"It belittles the very real problems soldiers face in Afghanistan. The resources devoted to this trip would have been better spent providing decent equipment for the troops and aftercare for injured soldiers," said Bergin.
But a supporter wrote on an army website: "It's all about actually being there, showing the troops that the future king and head of the armed forces cares about the work going on."
William's father, Prince Charles, was also an RAF pilot and his uncle, Prince Andrew, was deployed as a Navy helicopter pilot in the 1982 Falklands conflict.
