Prince Andrew has reflected on his time in the Falklands War on Instagram but he went on to delete the posts shortly after.

Writing more than 700 words on his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson’s account, the Duke of York said he entered the war “full of bravado” but returned a “changed man”.

The 62-year-old flew missions as a Sea King helicopter pilot during the 1982 conflict, which marked its 40th anniversary on Saturday.

His comments about his experience appeared in three posts on the Duchess of York’s Instagram page, however, within a couple of hours, they were removed.

Initially, the last post was signed off “written by HRH The Duke of York” but the “HRH” was then deleted.

Earlier this year, Prince Andrew had his honorary military roles stripped from him by the Queen.

He then gave up his HR style in a dramatic fallout from his civil sex case, brought against him by Virginia Guiffre.

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She was suing Prince Andrew for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 and trafficked by convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. The prince has always strongly denied the allegations.

What did the posts say?

In the first Instagram post about the Falklands, Ms Ferguson said she had asked her ex-husband for his reflections on the war.

He began his account by saying: “As I sit here at my desk on this cold crisp spring morning thinking back to April 1982 I’ve tried to think what was going through my mind as we sailed out of Portsmouth lining the flight deck of HMS INVINCIBLE.”

He continued: “So whilst I think back to a day when a young man went to war, full of bravado, I returned a changed man.

“I put away childish things and false bravado and returned a man full in the knowledge of human frailty and suffering.

“My reflection makes me think even harder and pray even more fervently for those in conflict today, for those families torn apart by the horrors they have witnessed.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York has shared a series of Instagram posts written by Prince Andrew reflecting on the 40th anniversary of him leaving to serve in the Falkland War with the Royal Navy. After seeing active combat, he writes, Andrew “returned a changed man”. pic.twitter.com/YuaB9dDT4O

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“And, I’m afraid to say, that the historical perspective my short war has taught me is this – war is failure to keep peace; war is failure of human judgment; war is failure to recognise we need to seek permission to understand another person’s perspective or reality, whether or not we agree or disagree with that perspective or reality.”

The prince also recalled the moment he was shot at, writing: “I was flying and saw a chaff shell fired from one of our ships that passed not that far in front of us.

He added that the “terror” has had a “lasting and permanent effect” on him.

Prince Andrew has spoken about the incident in the past – during his infamous Newsnight interview.

Addressing a claim that he was sweating heavily during an alleged night out with Ms Giuffre, he said that he “didn’t sweat at the time” because of an “overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands War” from when he was shot at.

“It was almost impossible for me to sweat,” he said.

Sky News has contacted Prince Andrew’s representatives and Buckingham Palace for a comment.

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