Afghan President Hamid Karzai is prepared to give Prince Harry a break, telling an interviewer: “Young men do make mistakes talking.”

In an interview with ITV News, the president, when asked whether the way the Prince expressed himself during his deployment was unwise, said: “Prince Harry is a young man, we do give exits to young men when they make mistakes.”

Harry, 28, told how he took enemy fighters “out of the game” during his 20-week posting and compared warfare to playing Xbox.

Pushed a second time on whether he was upset about the way the Prince expressed his service in the country, Mr Karzai remarked: “Well, as I said, he’s a young man, and young men do make mistakes talking, while behaving, all of us have gone through that period, so let’s drop it there.”

The president also lavished praise on Prince Charles, saying: “Prince Charles, the father of Prince Harry, is a very fine gentleman, a man for whom I have tremendous respect. For years, even when I was a student in Simla, I used to read about his dislike of modern architecture and the cement buildings and I entirely agreed with him.

“Prince Charles is a great representative of Britain and the British ways of life.”