Prince Harry's controversial "Paki" comment was branded unacceptable by Gordon Brown yesterday, as Defence Secretary John Hutton confirmed the young royal would be interviewed by his commanding officer.

However, the Prime Minister also declared he thought the prince would be given the benefit of the doubt by a public conscious of his combat service and charity work.

Mr Hutton confirmed Prince Harry would be interviewed in the next few days by his Household Cavalry commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Harry Fullerton, about the incident captured on video and disclosed by a Sunday newspaper.

Harry was caught on film three years ago referring to Pakistani platoon member Ahmed Raza Khan as "our little Paki friend".

Palace officials said the 24-year-old prince was "extremely sorry" for the comment and stressed that Harry had been speaking to a friend without malice. But the soldier's father, Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Abbasi, accused Harry - who is third in line to the throne - of using a "hate word" against his son.

Mr Brown, asked about Harry's comments, told GMTV: "I think the sincerity of his apology cannot be doubted.

"It was a mistake, he has made the admission of that and, once he has made his apology, I think the British people are good enough to give someone who has actually been a role model for young people and has done well fighting for our country, gone into very difficult situations with bravery, I think they will give him the benefit of the doubt."

However, he added: "I think Prince Harry knows that these comments are unacceptable and I think he has made an apology. I think it is a genuine apology. These comments have no part in our life and I think he is meeting his commanding officer quite soon to talk about them."

Mr Hutton told MPs at Commons defence question time: "I think we would all accept that the use of that kind of language has no place at all. Harry himself, I understand, will be interviewed by his commanding officer in the next few days."

The Defence Secretary added: "We should not lose sight of one very important fact in all this, that Prince Harry has served his country on active service in Afghanistan and I believe very strongly that there is no better example of public service than that."

Colonel Paul Farrar, the Army's deputy head of recruiting, said the use of words that could cause offence was "unacceptable".

He told a newspaper: "None of this helps the Army and whatever we do to try and encourage people from diverse backgrounds to join.

"I haven't seen the full context of what he said but any sort of throwaway line of this nature is to be regretted."