The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence withdraws Prince Harry from a tour of Afghanistan after news of his deployment is leaked to foreign media.

The Ministry of Defence is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for implementing the defence policy set by the government and serves as the headquarters of the British Armed Forces.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is a member of the British royal family. As the younger son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales, he is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne.

Operation Herrick was the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operations during the War in Afghanistan, from 2002 to the end of combat operations in 2014. It consisted of the British contribution to the multinational NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission for the purposes of local security, training and development, and support to the American-led Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) counterterrorism mission. After years in the field, Operation Herrick increased in size and breadth to match ISAF's growing geographical intervention in Afghanistan: British troops numbered 9,500 at its peak in 2010–2012. The operation has also been referred to as the Fourth Anglo-Afghan War.

February 29 is a leap day —an intercalary date added periodically to create leap years in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the 60th day of a leap year in both Julian and Gregorian calendars, and 306 days remain until the end of the leap year. It is the last day of February in leap years only. It is also the last day of meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the last day of meteorological summer in the Southern Hemisphere in leap years.