Britain's Prince Harry and his Zimbabwean girlfriend Chelsy Davy have split up, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported.

The newspaper said Davy, 22, had told friends she and the prince were having a trial separation.

"She kept saying she needed to take some time out to re-establish herself. She still loves him but she feels she needs to carve an identity as her own person rather than as Prince Harry's girlfriend," it quoted a friend as saying.

The paper said Harry, 23, a second lieutenant in the Household Cavalry, was disappointed after being told he could not deploy with his unit to Afghanistan.

Earlier this year he was kept home when his unit was sent to Iraq because it was too dangerous a mission for the third in line to the throne.

A spokeswoman for the royal family declined to comment on the report that the prince, who is Queen Elizabeth's grandson, had split up with his girlfriend, saying the family never comments on the prince's private life. - Reuters