PRINCE Harry, who celebrated his 24th birthday recently, has been voted Britain's coolest young royal.

Third in line to the throne, Harry beat his cousin Zara Phillips, brother Prince William and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie to the coveted title.

The royal has come of age this year after fulfilling a long held ambition to serve his country in the Armed Forces at the front line.

But the accolade has provoked a mixed reaction from people who live and work at Bovington, where he spent several months training in signals, driving and maintenance, as well as in general gunnery training.

Bovington chief, Lt Col Sid James, said of his training: "He proved to be a professional and very capable officer."

However, people in the local community have branded him miserable' and arrogant'.

Kerri Williams is a counter clerk at Bovington Post Office and stores, where the Prince was seen on occasions. "I don't think he's cool," she said.

"I found him very arrogant. The local teenagers didn't like him and would give him stick.

"When he was here he'd walk around with security all around him. He's in the British Army for goodness sake. What would those guards say? Sorry, you can't shoot him, he's a Royal?' "I was in the shop once and I walked too close to him and I was told to step away."

However, when questioned yesterday about the recent poll, MOD staff clearly had opinions but couldn't allow them to be published.

Likewise, staff at the local Clouds Hill Pub had all signed forms pledging not to disclose any information on the prince.

Nik Wyness, marketing officer at Bovington's Tank Museum, said: "The word cool is a strange term for a member of the royal family, but I think he seems to be a mature, well-set young man who wants a normal life but is always in the limelight.

"I think when he's a little older he'll be a fine ambassador for this country."

Harry visited the Tank Museum as part of his training where he learned about the history of his regiment.

Nik added: "I walked past him not realising it was him. One of my colleagues said he was very quiet and not very happy-looking."

Phil Cooper, of Wool-based taxi firm Garrison Cars, said: "Unfortunately he didn't use my company when he was at Bovington as he was always chauffeured around with a police protection team, but he seems like a level-headed young man.

"He'll party like most kids but he needs to be careful as the spotlight is on him.

"It's a shame someone lifted the lid on him being in Afghanistan."

The Prince, now a Lieutenant in the Household Cavalry's Blues and Royals, served for 10 weeks in Afghanistan in December last year but the deployment was cut short when a media blackout on reporting the news was broken by a website.

Harry has talked about his desire to serve again in a conflict zone.

The young royal has also spent part of this year checking on the progress of his Africa based charity Sentebale launched in memory of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales.

The Prince spent part of the summer refurbishing a school for children with special needs in Lesotho and seemed to enjoy the hard labour of digging ditches and pouring concrete.

And there's even an Action Man army doll which appears to be modelled on him.

Marketed as a British Army Tank Commander, the 12in plastic warrior is being sold for £68 on the internet - complete with a uniform that sports the eagle badge from his cavalry regiment on its chest.

Harry, although thought to be not as academically gifted as his brother, became instantly popular with his fellow students at top public School Eton.

He loves abseiling, football and skiing, and has a reputation for being one of the lads, unlike the more serious William, to whom he is very close.

Asked which royal couple they most wanted a night out with, those polled picked Harry and Chelsy as first choice (35 per cent), followed by Zara and Mike Tindall (33 per cent).

William and Kate Middleton scored 28 per cent, and Peter Phillips and wife Autumn four per cent.

When questioned about who was the coolest royal, Harry received 42 per cent of the votes, Zara 35 per cent, William 15 per cent and Eugenie and Beatrice both four per cent according to Sunday's poll conducted by MSN Entertainment.

But the Prince's misjudgement in wearing a Nazi outfit to a fancy dress party was voted his most infamous moment (72 per cent), followed by being photographed drunk (16 per cent), scuffles with paparazzi photographers (10 per cent) and splitting up with Chelsy (two per cent).