Armoured vehicle gunner Frank Cassidy's tour of duty in Afghanistan had already been dramatic enough before Prince Harry turned up to join his squadron.

Just a few weeks into his six-month deployment to Helmand Province, the Household Cavalry Lance Corporal from Crawley made a frantic dash back to Britain just in time for the birth of his first child.

Weeks after his return to frontline duties, his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, all its occupants miraculously escaping unhurt.

But when the third in line to the throne turned up to join his unit - the Household Cavalry's C Squadron - he admits he was a bit shocked.

Speaking during manoeuvres in the desert near the former Taliban stronghold of Musa Qaleh, L-Cpl Cassidy said: "I didn't even know he was out here to start with.

"I was on the Mog - Movement Operating Group, an extended desert patrol - when someone said he was out here controlling planes and I suddenly saw him.

"He's just a troop leader at the end of the day but he is quite an asset because he controls the planes.

"He's a nice bloke, easy to talk to, seems down to Earth."

L-Cpl Cassidy, 30, was serving in Iraq in 2004 when he met his wife Keeley after searching for pen-pals to help pass the time on tour.

The pair began going out on his return to Britain and married in September 2006.

When he arrived in Afghanistan last autumn to serve as a gunner in a Scimitar light tank, he knew the birth of their first child was only a few weeks away.

But it was not until the day before his daughter Georgia-Marie was due that rear party officials succeeded in contacting his squadron commander, then in southern Helmand, who immediately agreed to let him fly home.

Just 20 minutes later he was on the way to Forward Operating Base Dwyer, the closest British outpost.

He had to wait there for a day before a helicopter was able to take him straight to Kandahar airbase, the main Nato hub in southern Afghanistan, from where he caught an overnight troop transporter aircraft to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

From there the Army provided a car to take him straight to Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, Berkshire.

He said: "I was absolutely stinking from a couple of weeks on the ground and I got some rather dodgy looks.

"I was totally unshaven, still in combats, body armour and helmet.

"But they were all expecting me.

There was a sign on the labour ward white board saying, Try to hold on until husband gets home'."

But L-Cpl Cassidy said: "Luckily the hospital had made a mistake.

They told her she was to be induced but had made a mistake with the timings.

"I was actually a day late but, because of that mistake, I was there a day early."

Georgia-Marie was born on October 31 weighing a healthy 8lb.

With the end of his tour looming next month, L-Cpl Cassidy is eager to get back to see her.

The new family had 12 days together before he had to go back to Afghanistan.