Harry gets his hands dirty rebuilding a earthquake-damaged school in Nepal

PRINCE Harry certainly got his hands dirty after deciding to stay in Nepal for six days to help rebuild an earthquake-damaged school at the end of his official tour of the country.

Pictures released today show how the fifth in line to the throne got involved in some heavy lifting when he joined British charity volunteers in the remote mountain village of Lapubesi in western Nepal.

Harry, 31, joined volunteers from Team Rubicon, a UK charity that uses military veterans to help rebuild communities after natural disasters, on Operation Nirman (build in Nepali).

In Lapubesi, which lies close to the epicentre of the April 2015 earthquake that killed 9,000 people, 95 per cent of homes were destroyed, 16 people were killed and 150 injured out of a population of 3,000.

I hope the school we have helped to build will serve this community for years to come
Volunteer David Wiseman
When the school collapsed, the 250 children were forced to have lessons in a basic structure made from tarpaulins and tin.

Harry and his fellow workers helped create a new school, building a concrete base for a large classroom.

They also helped build a solar farm to restore a much-needed power supply and cleared debris and repaired a pump house containing a hydro-electric turbine that will work again when villagers clear a landslide in the coming months.

Volunteer David Wiseman, a former Army captain who was shot in the chest during a firefight with the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2009, said: "The work was physically demanding but it was great to be working together with other veterans in a tight knit team and this was a fantastic opportunity for us to work alongside the people of Lapubesi.

"I hope the school we have helped to build will serve this community for years to come."