Prince William Military: As the Sussexes landed in the UK from Nigeria today, King Charles granted Prince William command of Prince Harry’s former Army unit during their first joint activity since 2022.
At a ceremony on Monday, Britain’s Monarch Charles handed his son Prince William a prominent military position, marking a rare joint appearance for the two as the monarch ramps up his return to public responsibilities after his cancer diagnosis.
According to Reuters, in front of an Apache helicopter, and with service people watching at the Army Flying Museum in southern England, Charles gave William the title of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps, a post the 75-year-old monarch maintained for 32 years.
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“He’s a very good pilot indeed,” Charles remarked of his son, a former Royal Air Force helicopter search and rescue pilot.
It was Charles’ first engagement since starting work again at the end of April, nearly three months after Buckingham Palace said he was receiving treatment for an unidentified kind of cancer.
William, 41, also took a sabbatical from his official responsibilities in March and April of this year, preferring to spend time with and look after his wife after she disclosed that she was receiving preventative treatment for cancer.
On Friday, he declared, she was “doing well”.
Charles declared at the transfer ceremony that although he was bidding farewell with “sadness,” his son would lead the Army Air Corps to “strength and strength”.
Charles said, “Look after yourselves and I can’t tell you how proud it has made me to have been involved with you all this time,”
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Announced last August upon Charles’ ascension to the throne was the title transfer. William spent time with the Corps on Monday, seeing equipment and training and subsequently hearing from soldiers.
The Duke of Sussex was expected to take up the position of Apache helicopter pilot with 662 Sqn in Afghanistan until he decided to leave royal life in 2020 and move to the United States.
But Charles omitted to bring up Harry, who flew the same aircraft in Afghanistan for two tours of duty, during his statement in front of an Apache helicopter today. Rather, he declared William to be a “very good pilot indeed” and then, to much laughter, added, “So that’s encouraging.”
