You are the action heroes, Schwarzenegger tells troops

The governor of California joined Prime Minister David Cameron on a visit to Wellington Barracks, near Buckingham Palace, where he met soldiers from 1st Battalion the Grenadier Guards. He told the troops: "I get hailed a lot of times when I travel around the world as being the action hero.

"But I know the difference between a movie action hero who is make-believe and the true action heroes. You all are the true action heroes because you are risking your life.

Speaking in front of about 300 troops, Mr Schwarzenegger paid tribute to the UK armed forces for being "great partners"

with the US and doing a "great job".

He asked what made the two countries great, and went on: "It's because you, for hundreds of years, have fought for the freedom, to keep these countries free and to keep these countries strong and to have the freedom of speech. Many countries in the world don't have that."

The former Mr Universe said he had visited a rehabilitation centre where he met a man who had a cage around his lower leg with pins through it who was undergoing months of intense recovery treatment.

He said: "That, to me, is really tough and brave."

The battalion returned in April from a six-month tour in Afghanistan, during which five of their men died.

Earlier the men met in Downing Street where Mr Cameron joked that the former action hero was going to help him "terminate" the UK's budget deficit.