The RAF confessed yesterday that it was a public relations disaster to allow Prince William to make five flights in military helicopters for personal reasons. Instructors gave the Prince the chance to take a Chinook to a party, and to a wedding, and to show off to his prospective parents-in-law, and get aerial views of royal residences.
Prince William started his RAF training on 7 January, undergoing an intensive course that saw him awarded his wings on 11 April. On the day he graduated, the RAF heaped praise on the speed with which he picked up flying skills. “He worked every hour he had spare and also mixed in with the boys well,” Wing Commander John Cunningham said.
It has become clear, however, that the Prince was actually devoting some of those hours having fun in Chinooks. On 2 April, he flew a Chinook over his father’s country home, Highgrove, in Gloucestershire, in what was logged as a training flight. The next day, there was another training flight to Bucklebury, where the parents of his girlfriend, Kate Middleton, live.
On 4 April, he was a guest at a wedding in Hexham, in Northumberland. He flew there by Chinook – no doubt impressing wedding guests.
Five days later, his instructor told him to navigate by using recognisable marker points, including Sandringham, the Queen’s residence in Norfolk. Finally on 11 April, the day he received his wings, he flew a Chinook to London, picked up his younger brother Harry, and flew to the Isle of Wight, where the Princess Royal’s's son, Peter Phillips, was having a stag party.
The Ministry of Defence apologised, in the hope of defusing the anger of other service families at a time when the MoD budget is being squeezed, and admitted “there was a degree of naivety in the planning of these sorties”. (via The Independent)
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about time ,now he needs to do more charity
Will,
Your previous comments are so accurate – both Wills and Harry have the maturity of a two year old – they do what they want when they want with absolutely no (or hardly any) evidence of theory of minds.
They have alot of growing up to do before they can even start thinking about getting married – as Jenny says they especially Wills should do more charity work because he’s got like less than a year left in the armed forces – whereas Harry is going to be a life soldier.
Harry authentically wants to be a soldier.
A stag is a stag, if your measuring a degree of maturity of boys out of the stag party, then all guys worldwide are inmature.
If you are measuring the degree of maturity (25 and 23) – IMO they are pretty much mature to each age group they belong, with goofups included. Each person in the world has there set of priorities and responsabilities – I doubt any regular Joe taking PW or PH position would do it equal or better then them – they where born into this – they will learn to improve every mistake they do/encounter in life. Anyone here thought they where from another planet or God ?!
I hope William and Harry should do more charity work
No need to hope, they are only 23-25, the BRF have the boys lives very well planned. The POW official page says that PW will be fully working for the Royals January 2009.
Another thing is when naive goofups happen to them. People tend to see the negative side, but the positive angles – no way. Thats what Royal life is all about – people won’t gossip the good, bad gossip sells.
Yahoo News
Prince William’s helicopter antics hurt his image
William, 25, is seen as pampered and overindulged, and Harry, 23, as a gallant soldier who put his life on the line for queen (in this case, grandma) and country. At least that is the prevailing public view as embarrassed military officials admit they goofed by letting William treat his pricey Chinook like a private toy.
“It shows William in a bad light,” said public relations guru Max Clifford. “It’s the whole spoiled brat syndrome. If any other young officer in the RAF were to do this, they would probably be kicked out of the forces in two minutes. It basically says all the wrong things. It says because of who I am I can do what I want. That’s the sort of message that upsets the British public.”
He said William, second in line for the British throne, has damaged his credibility at a time when Harry is enjoying the popularity that came from his deployment on the front lines in Afghanistan, which was cut short after word of his presence in the war zone leaked.
Previous post was a Yahoo News Article:
Written By GREGORY KATZ
1 hour, 1 minute ago
LONDON
Yahoo News
Gregory Kats writes as if for everyone, minus Me.
I have to agree with him on this one. I think an apology only came because it was made public.
I don’t think any of it will hurt his image. People are just making a big deal out of this. Meaning they have nothing else to talk about.
There will always be people there to point out when mistakes are made, He is young and human. It just so happens all his mistakes are played out in the press. Why dont they concentrate on the positive things he does? I like a good scandal here and there but why keep dragging this out. Move on! Let the boy make it.
Wills takes a 450mph Tornado ride (…too fast for any controversial stops!)
After all the trouble over his helicopter jaunts, Prince William was no doubt glad to get a taste of some real RAF flying yesterday.
This exclusive picture shows him strapped into a Tornado GR4 bomber as it screams across the Lake District at 450mph and just 250ft above the ground.
The jet was so low that one plane-spotter on the mountainside was able to look down into its cockpit – where Flying Officer Wales was visible in the navigator’s seat – and take this photo-graph.
The prince, wearing a special suit to counter the G-forces of high-speed manoeuvres, was taken on the 80-minute sortie from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, by Wing Commander Andy Myers.
An RAF insider said: “We’ve taught the prince basic flying skills, but this was showing him how we actually fight an aircraft.
“There were no diversions for any sightseeing.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=561832&in_page_id=1770
yeh they cannot afford anymore
It surely hurt his image for now but in a couple of weeks the whole incident will be forgotten. No Royals image has ever been staedily positive and/or negative, IMO. It goes up and down that`s what sells papers. It didn`t take much to turn Harry`s image around and it won`t take much to \”safe\” William`s either. Harry spend 10 weeks in Afghanistan and is now regarded as responsible soldier. If William is deployed somewhere with the navy, that`ll do the trick or at least when he starts working full time as a royal in January. The problem the Princes have right now (William more so than Harry) is that people don`t see the \”work\” they do in the papers. They only see them in their private time partying but not training with the forces. Also William`s training is (for now) regarded as useless since he didn`t put it to use (yet).
Once they`ll be seen at official events on a daily basis the perception that they are \”useless party Princes\” will vanish.
I`m sure Harry enjoys being the \”good Prince\” for a change and I hope William will learn from this episode. You should never let positive press get to your head, ìt can be gone in a heartbeat.One mistake can ruin even a whole life of hard work – just look at Charles. To gain and keep popularity especially for a royal is constant hard work.
the good thing is that they apologized, and i know pw will accept that.
It is constant pressure and you have so many people to answer to. I for one don’t like to explain everything I do and why. I couldn’t imagine having their life. I am thankful for the boundaries and discipline I received growing up. I think it has made me very grounded. Money and power can be very dangerous not only to other people but to ones self. It can destroy relationships and families. I hope both princes are able to find peace with themselves and have wonderful and meaningful lives and relationships.
Unfortunately for William he’s a prince. If it were anyone else noone would care and it would be left to the RAF to deal with. The media have blown this way out of proportion. The stag-do incident was not a good idea and poor judgement on Will’s behalf but the rest of it may not entirely have been his fault. Looks like it’s more his instructors who have some explaining to do.