Sign this for ma'am, Harry asks Gervais

The royal request was made by the prince when he joined the performer for an after-show drink following a stand-up gig earlier this month.

Writing on his website's blog, Gervais said about Prince Harry: "On the day of the gig he wound me up by sending me a text saying that he was bringing his gran. I was obviously a bit panicked. She would definitely not have enjoyed the show.

"At the after-show he got me to sign a beer mat for her. 'to Liz II, Cheers! Ricky Gervais'.

"I will be checking ebay all week in case she is making money off me. I can't help but think that her signing a beer mat to me would be worth slightly more."

Prince Harry celebrated his 26th birthday yesterday but as a trainee Apache helicopter pilot he will be spending much of it on his helicopter studies.

At the weekend the prince was pictured in the crowd at a concert in aid of forces charity Help for Heroes, but it is thought he will be celebrating the milestone privately.

Prince Harry, a Household Cavalry officer, is attached to the Army Air Corps and began his eight-month course at its flying school at Middle Wallop in Hampshire in July.

Once that is completed he will spend a similar period under instruction with one of the Apache regiments at Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk.

A St James's Palace spokeswoman said Harry would spend his birthday training as usual.

Gervais also revealed that Prince Harry tried to persuade him to entertain the servicemen in Afghanistan.

"Harry was trying to persuade me to come to Afghanistan to perform to the troops. I said I was too scared. He said I could do Basra which was the safest place. Yeh, the safest place out of all the other places in a war zone," wrote the comic.

He added that he would think about it, but added: "I take risks with my comedy, not my vital organs."