L/Cpl Kingston (23) was sitting up in bed within hours of the operation and able to chat to a surprise visitor – Princess Anne.

He said: “My last words to the medical team before the operation were ‘make sure you remember it’s the right leg!’

“When I woke up, I looked down and my leg wasn’t there and I just smiled because I knew it was over.

“I have had phantom sensations. I wriggle my toes but the duvet doesn’t move. It’s weird to look down and see nothing happening but even when I’ve had pain there are no regrets.

“The only way now is forward.”

L/Cpl Kingston was mown down by enemy fire in the notorious Helmand Province, in Afghanistan, in November – a year after passing out of training with the prize for best all-round Marine.

When two early operations and months of gruelling physiotherapy failed to repair his ankle, L/Cpl Kingston could have opted for more surgery and more rehabilitation to try to save his leg, but it may not have worked and movement would have always been severely restricted.

Instead he made the brave decision to go for amputation, believing, with modern prosthetics, it gave him the strongest chance of regaining full fitness and resuming his military career.

On Thursday, the day after his amputation at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, L/Cpl Kingston came face-to-face with Princess Anne, who was on an official visit.

L/Cpl Kingston and his mum Gail, who runs West Lynn Ferry with husband Steve, had met the princess previously at a Buckingham Palace garden party for wounded soldiers in July.

L/Cpl Kingston said: “She is a really lovely woman who genuinely cares about everyone she comes to see.”

The former Downham schoolboy, of West Lynn, now has his focus firmly set on the goal he set himself when he decided to go for amputation – to join other injured soldiers in a charity expedition to Mount Everest in November next year.

He now has to avoid the one-in-five risk of infection setting into his wound to be out of hospital by his target of Wednesday, October 22, when he hopes to be fitted with a prosthetic limb and begin learning to walk again.

He said: “I'd like to say thanks to everyone who has supported me and my family throughout.”