Prince Harry and his girlfriend Cressida Bonas are reported today to have gone on a skiing trip to Kazakhstan earlier this month.The couple, who are experienced skiers, flew to the exclusive resort of Shymbulak in the former Soviet state for a ‘private holiday’, with the Sun reporting that they were given use of a government helicopter to whisk them to the slopes and back.Prince Harry and Cressida reportedly stayed in a luxury chalet in the mountains above the city of Almaty.

Kazakhstan has a cold winter which ensures it has powdery snow until late in the season.

Why was a government chopper provided for Harry?

No-one knows, but The Telegraph adds the following extraneous detail, whilst simulataneously insisting that, "There is no suggestion Prince Harry's skiing trip had any connection to the Duke of York", The Prince's uncle, the Duke of York, has close ties with Kazakhstan, making regular trips there during his time as the UK's trade ambassador.In 2007 the Duke sold his home, Sunninghill House in Berkshire, to Timur Kulibayev, the billionaire son-in-law of president Nazarbayev, for £15 million, which was £3m above the asking price.