London, Feb. 1: Prince Harry is to be sent to Iraq next year as a troop commander and is likely to patrol the hazardous border with Iran, defence sources have disclosed.

The third in line to the throne will join the army’s 1st Mechanised Brigade, which will be deployed to Basra in May 2007. The prince has told colleagues that he is determined to go on operations and be treated as normally as possible ? not kept out of the line of fire.

Defence chiefs, in consultation with the Prince of Wales’s office, will have to devise a plan that will not put his life or those of his troops in any greater danger.

As a troop commander in the Blues and Royals, the prince will have the rank of cornet, equivalent to a second lieutenant, in charge of 11 men and four light tanks.

The reconnaissance formation will patrol the long border with Iran where weapons, insurgents, drugs and money are smuggled.

The prince is keen that his royal position will not disqualify him. “There’s no way I’m going to put myself through Sandhurst and then stay at home while my boys are out fighting for their country,” he has said.

Instructors at Sandhurst have been impressed by Prince Harry’s approach.