Prince William – known as ‘Flight Lieutenant William Wales’ in the Royal Air Force – is currently based at RAF Valley in Anglesey, Wales, training to become a fully operational RAF Search and Rescue pilot. His daily life there is absolutely typical of that of any other officer on his flying course.
His normal routine might consist of an early breakfast in the Officers’ Mess followed by a briefing from his instructors on the day’s training activities and planned flying sorties – as well as the vital weather check.
The syllabus of Prince William’s training course varies greatly from week to week, as the course progresses, and takes in classroom-based training, simulator training and live flying. During the flying phase, Prince William and his colleagues will cover day and night flight operations and train for all situations that Search and Rescue aircrew may have to respond to. These operations are always followed by a de-brief with his instructors and fellow students to assess what went well and what needs further work.
The rest of the day might be spent preparing for the following day’s sorties in the Station’s Ops Room, planning routes, studying maps and rehearsing drills. The Prince also makes time each day to talk to his Household Office at St. James’s Palace. Most evenings involve study, but with plenty of opportunities for The Prince to get to know his fellow students in a more relaxed atmosphere.
Despite the intensity of the training course, Prince William continues to undertake official Royal engagements. Some of these are private, but most are public occasions.
The Prince is currently Patron or President of 19 charities and organisations, and he holds a small number of honorary appointments.
Prince William and Prince Harry share a number of interests, including support for disadvantaged young people. In Prince William’s case, this is illustrated by his keen patronage of the homelessness charity, Centrepoint, and in his focus on other organisations involved in helping the most disadvantaged young people in our society such as Skill Force.
The Princes also come together regularly to back Armed Forces charities and organisations, particularly those involved in caring for the wounded returning from current operations overseas such as Help the Heroes. They both also have a keen and growing interest in development issues arising from today’s environmental challenges, particularly in Africa.
An example of this is Prince William’s patronage of Tusk Trust, a leading charity promoting conservation alongside sustainable community development in Africa and The Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund, which supports schools in Uganda.
The Princes invite all their charities and associations to a gathering two or three times a year, where they hope to assist in promoting exchanges of ideas and joint initiatives to the benefit of all the members of what has become known as The Princes’ Charities Forum.
Prince William takes a very active role in putting together his engagements diary, which is compiled on a quarterly basis. Every care is taken to ensure that his official and charitable commitments do not impact detrimentally on his military service.
Whenever possible, however, if one of Prince William’s charities has a particular cause, project or anniversary to promote or celebrate, he will endeavour to support it. These engagements take Prince William all over the country.
In common with other Members of The Royal Family, Prince William finds the best way of using his limited spare time is to carry out more than one engagement in a particular area on a particular day.
For example, Prince William visit Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool to officially launch the hospital’s new Intra-Operative MRI scanner, the first of its kind in Europe. The Prince met patients, their families and staff on what was The Prince’s first official engagement in Liverpool. Prince William then visited the St Dunstan’s Centre for blind ex-Servicemen and women in Llandudno, Conwy in North Wales, 50 miles away from Liverpool. The Prince toured the newly acquired site and met St Dunstaners (the ex-Servicemen and women), their families, staff and supporters.
Prince William’s charitable work also takes him overseas, for example when he recently travelled with his brother, Prince Harry, to Africa for their first official joint overseas trip. The Princes visited Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa on behalf of Tusk Trust, Sentebale and The Football Association, allowing them to show their charities’ work to one another and to bring a spotlight on many inspiration projects.
In his time-off from the RAF course or official engagements, The Prince generally spends time socialising with his friends, going to the cinema or local pub, playing football or going out running.
