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Prince Harry suffered altitude sickness, exhaustion during South Pole trek

Prince Harry suffered severe altitude sickness and exhaustion during his grueling trek to the South Pole last year, according to a new video clip from a documentary about the expedition. The 29-year-old royal can be heard groaning while physicians check on his limbs and ask whether he had been vomiting.“Antarctica jumped up and bit me on the ass,” he admitted in the feature "Prince Harry's So

Prince Harry suffered severe altitude sickness and exhaustion during his grueling trek to the South Pole last year, according to a new video clip from a documentary about the expedition. 

The 29-year-old royal can be heard groaning while physicians check on his limbs and ask whether he had been vomiting.

“Antarctica jumped up and bit me on the ass,” he admitted in the feature "Prince Harry's South Pole Heroes", airing Sunday on Britain's ITV and on Wednesday, Mar. 26 at 8:00 p.m. on NBC.

Prince Harry (L) poses for a photograph with Margaux Mange of Team U.S. at the South Pole in this December 13, 2013 handout from Walking With the Woun...
Prince Harry poses for a photograph with Margaux Mange of Team U.S. at the South Pole in this Dec. 13 handout from Walking With the Wounded.HANDOUT / Today

Prince Harry and a team of a dozen injured service members completed a 200-mile trek to the South Pole last Dec. to raise awareness for the charity Walking with the Wounded.

But during the expedition, a debilitated Harry was forced to sit out for 36 hours to recover from altitude sickness.

"If you show a weakness to Antarctica, I think it exploits it. And I think it will slowly grind you down until you have the utmost respect for it, which I now have,” he said. "I thought I could come out here and just crack on and see it through without any issues, make sure I'm here for the guys when they need me."

Harry said being downed by illness left him “frustrated and disappointed” with himself.

“But it really does prove how physically and mentally tough these guys are,” he said of his crewmates, many of whom lost limbs or suffered other injuries from their military service.

The expedition initially started as a race between three teams based on their home country — the United States, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. But the competition was abandoned after the punishing blizzard conditions of the Antarctic made the excursion far more difficult than expected. The teams instead joined together to complete the challenge.

Harry, a British army helicopter pilot who has served multiple tours in Afghanistan, was joined on the expedition by “True Blood’’ star Alexander Skarsgard and English actor Dominic West from “The Wire."

The life of Prince Harry

Slideshow  106 photos

The life of Prince Harry

Take a look at Prince Harry’s life, from being cradled as a baby in the late Princess Diana’s arms to his recent charity work.