Prince visits coastal towns ravaged by Superstorm Sandy

Harry asked to visit the picturesque Jersey shore to see how people are rebuilding their lives after he met a US soldier during his deployment to Afghanistan last year, who had lost his home in the disaster.

The ferocious storm struck the US east coast in October, killing more than 120 people, and the cost of the clear-up will cost tens of billion of pounds.

With New Jersey’s governor Chris Christie as his guide, Harry went to the towns of Mantoloking and Seaside Heights on a slender barrier island along the Atlantic.

Every one of Mantoloking’s 521 homes was damaged or destroyed by Sandy, and scores of homes remain piles of rubble. Residents of the wealthy community, largely a summer retreat, were not allowed to move back until February.

Mr Christie hopes publicity surrounding Harry’s visit will highlight reconstruction efforts and the need for more financial aid to restore the local economy.

He stood on a sandy, vacant lot where once there were homes swept away by the storm.

Those who had once lived there had come back to see him, including seven red-haired cousins from the Bowden family from Philadelphia, who holidayed every summer in the house their great aunt built in 1926.

Camilla, 17, Emily, 13, Phebe, 12, Liesl, 15, Frances, 7, Alex, 15, and Sam, 15, persuaded him to pose for a picture with them.

“All red heads together,” said Camilla. “We’re all cousins.”

“I can see that,” replied Harry.

At an amusement arcade Harry won a blue elephant for 11-year-old Taylor Cirigliano.

She said: “He was really cute, and had a good personality. I think it was nice he came down here, because it puts a smile on people’s faces to know that he supports what everybody is doing.”

Headteacher Chris Raichle, of the Hugh J Boyd Elementary School which was largely destroyed by Sandy, said: “I knew about the visit about a week ago but I kept it pretty quiet because I knew all the requests would come in from the female teachers to see the Prince.”