Members of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards received their operational medals for Afghanistan from The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at a ceremony yesterday, in Windsor, as part of a wider programme of Armed Forces Day activities for the Regiment. This marked the royal couple’s first visit to the Regiment, of which the Duke became Regimental Colonel earlier this year. The Irish Guards have just returned from a six month tour in Afghanistan in which they were deployed with the mission of developing the Afghan Army. In this task they were spread through 22 different locations in Helmand province. They suffered three fatalities on the tour, all from enemy action. Crown Copyright/MOD 2011