Photos of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, at work sparks UK military security alert

Photographs of Prince William taken at his place of work and posted on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's website had to be recalled after sparking a security alert.

The photos — which include William making tea and sharing a joke with his colleagues — had reportedly not been cleared by the Ministry of Defense before they were published on his official website, The Sun newspaper reported.

They were taken where he works as one of two pilots in the crew of a Sea King Mark 3 search and rescue helicopter, at Britain's Royal Air Force base in Angelsey, North Wales.

While they were meant to illustrate a day in the working life of "Flight Lieutenant Wales," as he is known, they were quickly recalled for showing such "sensitive information" as UK Ministry of Defense user names, passwords and computer screens in the background.

The Press Association cited a defense spokesman as saying:

"A number of photographs of Flight Lieutenant Wales were taken whilst on duty working as a helicopter search and rescue pilot. Due to an administrative oversight, these photographs were not properly cleared at RAF Valley. The passwords and user names shown have now been reset as a precaution and we are satisfied the images do not contravene security regulations."

The images, posted by St James Palace on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's new website, which also features contributions from The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (a.k.a. Wills and Kate), were removed just four hours after they went up.

However, by then they had been republished by thousands of websites, TV networks and newspapers around the world, according to Australia's Nine Network.

As a consequence, the Defense Ministry was forced to reset all RAF usernames and passwords.

The photos were re-released, with classified information pixilated, an media "kindly" asked to use the altered versions, the PA reported.

The website entry was accompanied by an article detailing an average 24-hour shift for "Flt Lt Wales," which includes checking "things like the airframe, fuel, hydraulic and navigation systems" on his helicopter.

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