Prince Harry reaches South Pole

Prince Harry has become the first British royal to trek to the South Pole after successfully completing his expedition on Friday (13Dec13).

The prince teamed up with several British soldiers for the Walking With The Wounded charity mission to raise money for injured servicemen and women.

The three-week event was initially a race between Harry's team, a group from the U.S., and a third team made up of Canadians and Australians. The rivals were headed by actors Alexander Skarsgard and Dominic West.

However, all expeditionaries bandied together earlier this week (beg09Dec13) as conditions worsened and fears grew for the success of the 200-mile (322-kilometre) trek.

The unifying tactic clearly worked and all walkers reached the South Pole at midday GMT, which was 1am local time.

The significance of the finishing date was not lost on the prince - in a video blog, he said, "We get to the South Pole on Friday 13th - unlucky for some, lucky for us."