After the media let out news about Prince Harry’s mission in Afghanistan, the U.K.’s Ministry of Defense decided his immediate return from the British armed forces located in Afghanistan.

After several meetings late last year at the Ministry of Defense, British media and a few international publications have agreed to keep the secret regarding Prince Harry’s deployment in Afghanistan in exchange of regular photographs and footage of his daily activity to be released at the end of his mission. This “understanding” was reached to protect Harry’s safety and that of the other British soldiers.

But yesterday a U.S.-based Web site, the Drudge Report, disclosed the information, citing Australian New Idea magazine and German newspaper Bild. The U.K. government described the publication of such news “regrettable.”

“This decision has been taken primarily on the basis that the worldwide media coverage of Prince Harry in Afghanistan could impact on the security of those who are deployed there, as well as the risks to him as an individual soldier,'” a spokesman for the ministry said in an e-mailed statement in London today, Bloomberg reports.

Prince Harry has been on mission for 10 weeks in the southern province of Helmand. Harry, 23, is the third in line to the British throne He deployed to Afghanistan on December 14, and was due back in April. But pursuant to the latest events situation will certainly change.

Prince Harry has been serving as a battlefield air controller. He was granted the authority to give final clearance for air strikes and carried out surveillance of Taliban fighters in the area, Telegraph reports.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Harry has been an “exemplary” soldier, while the Queen said she is very proud of her grandson’s activity in Afghanistan.

The news of his withdrawal from the frontline will come as a blow to Harry, a second lieutenant in the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry. He has expressed his wish of putting his training into action, and this opportunity was like a dream come true.

”[I] finally get the chance to actually do the soldiering I wanted to do from ever since I joined,” he told reporters, including the U.K.'s Press Association.

The British officials have not released information regarding the timing and circumstances of the Prince’s return to Britain.