London: A team of Special Forces troops is providing a "ring of steel" around Prince William in the Falklands amid mounting tensions with Argentina over the islands.
At least 20 servicemen from the Special Air Service and Special Boat Service are on the South Atlantic archipelago to assess — and counter — any threat of Argentine action.
One of their prime roles is to identify any threat posed to the Duke of Cambridge, whose deployment at the time of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War has caused outrage in Buenos Aires.
Reconnaissance
Intelligence analysts say the biggest danger to William, whose uncle Prince Andrew was a helicopter pilot during the 1982 conflict, is likely to come from an individual or small group.
Special Forces operatives carried out extensive reconnaissance of the islands before William arrived.
The prince, who is on the island for a six-week deployment as an RAF search-and-rescue pilot, also has an armed close protection unit including soldiers from the Royal Military Police on standby.
The Special Forces troops arrived on the Falklands over a period of several weeks as Argentina escalated its rhetoric over sovereignty of the disputed territory with renewed calls for them to be handed over.
Tensions have been increasing as the 30th anniversary approaches. Argentine troops invaded on April 2, 1982. They were defeated in a 74-day war which claimed 255 British and 649 Argentine lives.
Meanwhile, Prince Harry is to make a "sentimental" private visit to a paradise isle in the Bahamas where his father and late mother were said to have spent some of the happiest times of their lives.
Prince Charles took his then 20-year-old wife Diana to idyllic Windermere island in February 1982 when she was five months pregnant with Prince William.
