Princes William and Harry¹ today joined the flood relief effort by helping² soldiers to lay sandbags in Datchet.

 

The brothers secretly joined members of Harry's Household Cavalry³ regiment⁴（团，大量） to shore up the defences just a stone's throw from the Queen's residence, Windsor Castle.

 

Their trip to the front line of the crisis is reportedly the second intervention⁵ into the flooding crisis by the Royal Family, after the monarch⁶ apparently⁷ criticised the Government's response to the disaster.

 

According to sources, William and Harry had been keen to play a part for some days but did not want to publicise their presence for fear of distracting from the crisis facing householders.

 

They joined military personnel at 6am this morning and had hoped to stay working all day. But by mid⁸ morning, word of their presence had already slipped out.

 

Harry was wearing his army fatigues⁹（疲劳，杂役） while William was in 'civilian¹⁰' dress.

 

A royal aide said: 'This is not something they wanted publicised and it was only decided¹¹ on Wednesday night.

 

'They were very keen to help with the flood relief effort and thought that joining the military would be the best way.'

 

A Buckingham Palace spokesman told MailOnline: 'They joined the Household Cavalry this morning from 6am and they have been helping to build walls of sandbags.'

 

William and Harry later left the office of Datchet Parish Council and got into a car alongside military personnel to continue the relief effort.

 

Parish clerk Graham Leaver said: 'They were very involved and wanting to know what was going on. They have been in Datchet and the area and I think it's gone down very well. That is my assessment¹².

 

'They were very natural. To be honest, they could have walked in among people here and nobody would have recognised them looking at the way they were dressed.

 

'They were particularly interested in talking to the troops. The support we have received from the Army has been absolutely excellent and if they hadn't come into Datchet we as a parish would have been overwhelmed.'

 

While the floodwaters have receded¹³ since their peak earlier this week, 2in of rain was set to fall today with more tomorrow, raising the possibility of homes and businesses facing fresh horror over the weekend.

 

The princes helped by unloading sandbags from military trucks onto freight trains which would then take them to areas where they are most needed.

 

They are no strangers to working in disaster zones and providing emergency relief - William has worked as a rescue helicopter pilot, while Harry has served two tours of duty in Afghanistan.

 

The Queen, William and Harry's grandmother, has also been lending a hand to flood victims by providing farmers with a way to look after their livestock¹⁴ during the crisis.

 

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: 'The Queen is supporting Somerset farmers affected¹⁵ by the flooding on the Somerset Levels by contributing feed and bedding from the royal farms at Windsor.'

 

The public statement came as Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg denied a report that the Queen criticised the Government response to the floods in a private meeting with him in his role as president of the Privy¹⁶ Council.

 

Asked on LBC radio whether it was true that the Queen had 'waded¹⁷ in' over flooding, Mr Clegg replied: 'No.' He declined to discuss the content of their conversations any further.

 

But the fact that her efforts have been made public will be seen as a coded rebuke¹⁸ to the Government's reaction to the widespread devastation¹⁹（毁坏，荒废） caused by the extreme weather.

 

Meanwhile, Lord Smith - a former Labour minister who has been heavily criticised for his response to the floods crisis - was far away from affected areas as he was seen outside his home in Islington.

 

The grandee²⁰（贵族，要人） has faced repeated calls for his resignation over accusations²¹ the Environment Agency exacerbated²² the scale of the disaster by failing to dredge（疏浚，捞取） vulnerable rivers.

点击收听单词发音