A photo issued by Clarence House of Prince Harry standing in front of his Apache helicopter, taken while he was in the French Alps on his mountain flying training in March 2011. Clarence House / Pool / Agence France-Presse

Reputation has changed since he served as officer in Afghan war

LONDON - Britain's Prince Harry has worked hard to shake off his wild-child image - and his newfound maturity will be tested to the limit when he acts as best man at his brother Prince William's wedding.

After highly publicized indiscretions, William's younger brother now takes his responsibilities seriously and became the first royal in more than 25 years to serve in a war zone.

Third in line to the throne, 26-year-old Harry has a difficult path to tread.

Though William is on course to become king one day, Prince Charles' second son has his every move scrutinized nonetheless - and Harry has erred spectacularly.

At the age of 17 he admitted having smoked cannabis and was soon a regular fixture at London nightclubs, with alcohol, cigarettes, aristocratic beauties and a scuffle outside with paparazzi the common tale. His mischievous antics were viewed largely with amused affection until he went to a fancy dress party in 2005 wearing a mock Nazi uniform, triggering horrified front-page headlines worldwide.

That incident threatened to stop his entry into the army, but he knuckled down to his military duties and served as a front-line officer in Afghanistan for 10 weeks until a media blackout was broken in 2008.

Serving in Afghanistan revitalized his reputation, but the following year he was dragged back down when a video he made in 2006 emerged, showing him using the derogatory term "Paki" about a fellow soldier.

Since then, the prince has immersed himself in military and charity work, gradually improving his profile, and this month he was promoted to the rank of captain after completing five years' service.

"Harry has changed public perceptions of himself," said Richard Palmer, the Daily Express newspaper's royal reporter.

"He was a bit of a wild child when he was younger. Like a lot of young people, he regularly let off steam getting hammered in nightclubs," he said.

"But although he still likes a drink and a smoke, he seems to have become so much more mature.

"People who work for him credit the army for that."

Katie Nicholl, author of a book on William and Kate, The Making of a Royal Romance, said going to Afghanistan made the public take Harry far more seriously.

"He earned a huge amount of respect for doing that," Nicholl, The Mail on Sunday newspaper's royal correspondent, said.

"It really was a turning point in his military career and in his life also. Harry really has grown up. You don't see him falling out of nightclubs and disgracing himself."

There was never malice in his youthful misadventures, said Nicholl. "I don't think Harry ever set out to cause deliberate offense," she said.

"It was naivety and bad judgement. You just have to wonder why William or someone didn't just pull him to one side."

William's stag do could have proved a disaster for Harry as its organizer, laden with opportunities to lapse into old ways.

But he outfoxed the press by holding it on a private estate.

Harry's best chance of getting a proper stint back on the front line is in a helicopter, so he began retraining in early 2009 and qualified last month to fly the Apache attack helicopter, a job which just 2 percent of trainee pilots can do.

"There's no other reason for training to be an Apache pilot other than to serve in Afghanistan. It would be a scandal and a waste of public money if he doesn't go," Palmer said.

Duncan Larcombe, The Sun newspaper's royal editor, said it should be seen as Harry's greatest achievement. "He is not academic, flopped at school and never made it to university like his brother," he wrote.

Agence France-Presse