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by Prashant Rao Tue Apr 29, 10:47 PM ET

LONDON (AFP) - Britain's Prince William, second-in-line to the throne, visited troops in Afghanistan this weekend, less than a month after his younger brother finished a tour of duty there, a spokesman said Tuesday.

"He flew out as part of the air crew of a C-17 transport plane on Sunday morning, and landed in Kandahar where he spent about three hours on the ground being briefed on the operations of the RAF and the base there," the spokesman for the 25-year-old royal told AFP.

He added that Prince William then flew in another military transport plane to a Royal Air Force base in Qatar where he spent around two hours being briefed, before flying back to Britain on Monday afternoon.

The spokesman said the trip had been planned for some time.

"He's been on attachment with the RAF for three months, and learning how the RAF operates across the different aspects of the service. The culmination of that was to see the RAF in theatre."

The trip, which took around 30 hours in total, "passed without a hitch", the spokesman said.

Prince William's visit to Afghanistan comes little more than a month after his younger brother Harry completed a 10-week posting in the country, the first time a British royal saw frontline action since the 1982 Falklands War with Argentina.

Earlier this month, Prince William received his wings for graduating as an RAF pilot from his father Prince Charles after a faster-than-usual training course.

He subsequently ran into controversy for landing an RAF helicopter at his girlfriend's house during a training session, though the defence ministry defended his actions as having been "fully authorised".

William temporarily left his army officer role for the specially slimmed-down four-month RAF course, aimed at preparing him for his future duties as head of the armed forces when he becomes king.

He learnt how to fly fast propeller-powered planes and helicopters and is the fourth generation of British royals to become an RAF pilot.

Army officer William has served a year as a second lieutenant in the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry, following his graduation from the elite Sandhurst military academy. He is a troop commander in charge of armoured Scimitar vehicles.

While with the RAF, Prince William has been known as Flying Officer William Wales -- equivalent to his army rank -- and wears an RAF uniform.

William is also due to serve on attachment to the Royal Navy.

The prince is gradually being groomed for his future duties as prince of Wales and as king. He has already represented Queen Elizabeth II on a handful of occasions.

His younger brother's tour of Afghanistan had been cut short after a US website broke an embargo agreed between British media and the defence ministry not to publish his whereabouts for security reasons, and Harry was forced to return to Britain at the beginning of March.