Last year, I became obsessed with Prince William’s schemes to avoid the royal work he so loathed. He will literally do anything else besides his princely duties. He’s already spent years barely fulfilling his RAF duties, he’s taken a second gap year, done a “bespoke Cambridge program” and his current scheme involves becoming an air ambulance pilot with the East Anglia Air Service.
We were told last year that William had worked out a particular scheme in which the Air Service would create a position for William (out of thin air) and pay him £40,000, which he would then donate to charity. This position takes a lot of time to prepare for, and William has to complete a long series of exams to fulfill the requirements for the job. Allegedly, that’s what he’s been doing since December. That’s the explanation for why he hasn’t made any public appearances in two months, not even to come out to the BAFTAs (he’s president of BAFTA). But of course, he could still get away for two weeks to Mustique, but nevermind about that. Anyway, the story was that William would begin with the East Anglia Air Service in the spring. Not so much.
Prince William will start flying as an air ambulance pilot in the summer. He has been taking exams in preparation for his new role with East Anglia Air Service. It had already been announced that William would join the service, based at Cambridge Airport, in spring – but now it’s been revealed that he won’t actually be operational until a few months later.
The pilot-Prince will welcome a few months breathing space as he will have to juggle his new job with a second baby. The Duchess of Cambridge, née Kate Middleton, is expecting a brother or sister for Prince George in mid-April.
He is expected to donate his £40,000 a year salary to charity. A typical day will involve an eight-hour shift starting at 7am or the follow-on night shift from 4.30pm to 1am. Crews usually deal with five call outs a day but can fly up to ten flights in one shift. The Prince will have four days on followed by four days off. The service operates two helicopters out of Cambridge and Norwich airports which are both within 50 miles of the couple’s new home Anmer Hall.
Aviation consultant Gerry Hermer said:”The Prince’s job will be to react to 999 calls as required by ambulance control. He will be deployed in any emergency medical situation where using a helicopter will be in the best interests of the patient. He is already a qualified professional pilot and the main difference between this and his previous role is there will be less flying over sea and the helicopter will not be equipped with a winch.”
He added: “He will also be dealing with more injured people than he is perhaps used to. In some cases this can be quite distressing but I’m sure he is well equipped to cope with that. Ultimately he will be part of a crew and will sit with them all day so they are likely to become very close.”
I’ve seen some people mention that William might have to fly with his security personnel, or at least one bodyguard or something like that? How in the world is that going to work? I have no idea. I have to wonder if this scheme really was all William hoped for, or whether this whole thing is turning out to be just as tedious as his “royal work.” And I wonder why the change from spring to summer – is William having problems passing all of his exams? Or did he just decide to take his time with all of his pilot preparations? He can’t be expected to change his holiday schedule, after all.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
It really is so frustrating. Look at his father, whom I’m not too fond of, who works CONSTANTLY. When is he actually going to transition? Being a working royal seems like a fun job. (I’m sure sometimes it does actually feel like work – but still.) I’m scared for when (if) he becomes king.
Same here. He’s just annoying now.They are annoying now. And it’s super difficult to believe anything nice that these people do or say anymore. Like, now we know everything William and Kate do is a chore for them. Urgh!
Agreed. They are getting annoying with their laziness and constant vacationing and never working. What is he going to do for the next 4 months? And seriously, being a working royal does seem like fun sometimes and like work other times, but if I were given the chance to be a working royal over just a regular working person, I’d be a working royal in a heartbeat!
Just remove yourself from the line of succession, dude. Maybe convert to Catholicism! Tell granny and daddy to give you your inheritance early and retire to a never-ending holiday where Kate can shop til she drops, PGTips can destroy everything on his path and you can do a whole lotta nothing!
This.
If he does not want to work like a royal, he should not be a royal. Seriously.
He could just simply be the rich, spoilt kid he always wanted to be and leave the title to His Royal Hotness Prince Harry.
I’m really hoping that he’s waiting for his Granny to pass before he bites the bullet and takes himself out of the line of succession. LOL I can dream, can’t I?
I’ve been thinking the same for awhile. Spare her the trauma and remove himself when P. Charles succeeds.
I wish he would, Harry would make an excellent King, he could save the monarchy. If it falls to William, its doomed.
Harry is probably thanking his lucky star every day for being born after William.
Didn’t Diana always say that it’s too bad Harry was the spare, because he was the one that would have been more suited to being the King?
Yes, around her friends she referred to him as GKH (Good King Harry).
Oh man, not while the Middletons are alive! They’re not going to let him do anything to ruin Kate being Queen one day (and by that I mean abdicate, not the poor “attempt” of royal work he’s doing now).
+1
William is the lazy one who has passed this on to his wife, you only have to look at the Middletons to see that they are not lazy people, they are always hussling,Pippa is always trying to get the next big gig and James is trying to be independently successful. Their company is doing well and they are the biggest social climb in history. It is just William and whatever issues he has.
This is to the Kate is lazy too moans, she is very submissive to her husband and lets him take the lead. When they were dating she seemed like someone who likes to be up and about and very active. After being with one person for long enough sometimes people change to suit the dominant partners ways.
I agree, Loopy. People are always bashing Kate for being lazy, but I think it’s William driving the lazy train. I think she would work more if he wanted to.
The Middletons are not lazy. Kate is lazy. At least in a do your job sense.
She has drive when it comes to things impacting her personal life. After that? Has she taken any initiative regarding a charity? Did she hold a real job for any good length of time that wasn’t a pr ploy after her “lazy” image was attacked?
William is lazy. No doubt about it. And I think he enables Kate to also be lazy. But imo Kate would be this way without William enabling. It’s her default setting. Work and earning money are values she never learned. Not in the same sense we did.
Just look to Kate’s whole life before marriage. 2 jobs. 1 working briefly for her mom snapping shots of PP displays. No one can say how long she did that though. And the other working for a family friend that created a job for her where she could come and go as she pleased. And she didn’t even keep it.
And I don’t think William would be upset if Kate worked more. She is right now. I think he’d be mad if she grew some plums and stand up to him.
Seems like a lot of work to be this lazy!!! LOL
Just think of how much effort it would take for William to hide out, away from the media!
And Kate with her shopping! That must be incredibly time consuming! 😉
I dunno, I would buy this argument more if Kate actually was hard working before marriage, but she wasn’t. It’s not like she went from working 80 hours a week to nothing after marriage. She didn’t work then, she doesn’t work now. I don’t think we can blame that all on William.
She has always been lazy, for the 10 years of the relationship before marriage. No excuse for her not having a real job for a decade. She could have found a way, with her family’s rumored wealth, to run her own business AND be William’s beck-and-call girl. Instead, she chose to be lazy, have her parents pay for everything, earn nothing, and wait by the phone.
Don’t blame her laziness on William; they found a perfectly matched workshy mate in each other.
I don’t work, and I’m not lazy, thank you. And I know plenty of lazy people with jobs.
She was working at Party Pieces.
No, Loopy she wasn’t. If she had been, her mom wouldn’t have gotten her the 2 day a week job at Jigsaw to publicly counter HM’s concerns about Middleton’s laziness.
Her sister was asked point blank what Kate did for the company and couldn’t answer. They alleged that she was the photographer, but all photos online and in the catalog were credited to someone else. She was photographed twice outside PP during the entire relationship. Once after HM asked the famous, “What does she do all day” question and the post-2007 break-up PR campaign.
GNAT, I presume your expenses are not paid by the taxpayers? A woman who lets her parents support her for a decade for her bag-a-prince campaign has earned my disrespect.
The job at her parents firm was part-time i believe (a few days a week) working on the email newsletters. She spent the rest of the time shopping, holidaying or falling out of bars with William. The job at Jigsaw (or was it Monsoon) was a PR stunt set up by her families connections – she was apparently never there.
All of this suggests a lacklustre attempted at having a career. Creating newsletters that go out once or twice a week isn’t that taxing – I know as I used to do it.
Nota/Loppy
I should have read down before posting.
Kate had 2 reported jobs. They came in after the Queen and people started asking what Kate does with her time.
1. PP. She took display shots of items to be posted on the website for sale. Though trying to confirm what shots she took, how many, or for how long she had that job is tricky. It seems more as if they claimed she did it and that alone served its purpose. It wasn’t like Pippa working at PP where there’s documentation and others to confirm. Pippa wrote weekly newsletters.
And Jigsaw. A family friend built Kate a job to cater to her jetset lifestyle. She could only work a few hours a week and had to be able to leave at any time without a moments notice incase William called for her. It also served as a destination for pap walks, but they caught her entering and shortly later exiting. The job was said to be private/secret shopper style, but others said she made tea.
Imo all of this would have faded away if it wasn’t for the PR and press building an image up that clearly isn’t supported from the past or currently.
FLORC, the photos are credited to someone else. Someone who has been hired to do Middleton family photos for events before and after the wedding. Keeping that person paid, tied to the family, and silent is a good PR move on their part.
Notsugar – good point. I shouldn’t have taken offense, sorry. The circumstances aren’t the same.
Nota
Well, that’s why there was no tracing anything to Kate outside of an approved article saying Kate works at PP taking pictures.
It was easy to believe with Kate’s degree and hobby of picture taking, but scratch the surface and no shots are credited to her.
OMG I can’t stand when people believe she actually worked at party pieces or jigsaw or anything. She worked like 3 shifts for PR.
GNAT, I wouldn’t assume that someone who doesn’t have a job is lazy in today’s world. Finding a job, especially one in your chosen field, can be incredibly difficult and exhausting. I wouldn’t call AH lazy, but she’s currently locked out of jobs in her chosen field because they are so few and far between. She’s hustling the best she can to find something. (AH, hoping the tiara book is in the works for QMII’s 75th birthday year!)
Middleton is a different case. She didn’t work by choice for a decade – but they put on a BIG PR show to pretend she did when the press called her on it. She had all the opportunities in the world, including Uncle Gary funding to start any business she wanted, and all she did was shop, party, vacation, and sit by the phone. It is amazing the amount of effort W&K put in to avoiding work.
Kate is the epitome of laziness, just like her husband. Does she clean her house? Does she do her laundry, cook, take care of the baby?
SHE HAS STAFF to do all that nonsense.
I would love to know what the heck she does with herself most the time, aside from shopping, getting her hair done, and working out.
I think the Middleton parents are to blame for enabling their children. I respect anyone who works hard and Michael and Carole obviously worked hard and set up their own business. Lots to admire there. What I can not understand is why they did not instill their work ethic to their adult children instead of subsidising them…
I think they are implying that the schedule change is due to the oncoming second child. Which, out of context, makes sense, but would these two you can never be sure of what’s truly going on.
That is what I read. Baby in late April, so he will start in the summer. Now, Lazy William Conspirators can all agree that he probably knocked her up planning the timing to get himself an extra bit of leave. LOL! I do wonder, however, where he got this lazy, entitled attitude. Say what you will about Charles and Diana but both were/are very hard workers. Diana had her causes and she was devoted to them. William would have seen both his parents work. Harry also seems to have his mother’s passion for causes and his father’s work ethic (along with his younger father’s party ways). But William…..
They said on August 7th that he’d be doing the EAAA thing. On another site I read the artist from the poppy installation is claiming they nearly cancelled Middleton’s August 5th appearance – because of morning sickness. They announced the pregnancy September 8.
Nota: Help please. I can’t post links again, posting from my phone – why can’t the phone companies fix this??!! 🙂
There is an article from 2008 from BBC news, with named military sources, that clearly lays out the perfunctory training he received in the RAF.
It’s not simply that he can’t pass exams, they also have to raise his technical flight training to acceptable levels because as a properly trained military pilot, he would have been exempt from some of this initial training.
And then there is his lassire faire attitude to licence where he nearly lost it due to inability to maintain MINIMUM flying hours. Minimum flying hours are 15hrs per month.
…… limited training, barely scraping through real world experience, i’d ask for another air ambulance too!!!
On a different note, the artist’s comments came an interview he gave The Times Newspaper.
LAK, I’m no help on posting links. I can’t get them to go through, even using a laptop. Others can go look it up from this:
Can you be an RAF pilot in 13 weeks?
BBC News
April 11, 2008 – Training a pilot in the RAF normally takes up to four years – so how did Prince William get his wings in under four months?
Jessica Hay said on July 14 that Middleton was pregnant again. Everyone said it proved she was an outsider. Now we’ve heard W&K knew they were pregnant August 4th. I wonder if Hay was correct all along?
It’s the exams. He had trouble at St. Andrews in which he changed his major and almost dropped out because it was still difficult. All I know is if he was the pilot in an emergency, I would tell them I would wait for the next one.
Bwahahahahaahahahahhaha, the Royals do seem to be poor scholars, even Diana reading in public was sometimes uncomfortable to watch.
I just hope they don’t make the exams easier for William to pass … whereas taking an exam more than once is not such a shame in itself.
Wasn’t there a story that William almost / or did in fact lose his wings due to a lack of mandatory flying hours?
It is nearly funny that lazy waity Katie looks less workshy than William.
Well, in university, he didn’t even get grades. Nope, your eyes are not tricking you. You read that right. He went through college without ever being graded on anything. Something about “how on EARTH could the professors grade the future sovereign!?” or some such nonsense. But yeah, Ole Willie is not the sharpest tool in the shed.
The scholar in me is deeply offended that he didn’t receive grades! It also means that his education at St. Andrews is worthless and slightly suspicious because I assume that if his work had been any good then grades would have been a-okay.
I know that a lot of the young European royals have academic degrees but does anyone know if they had similar agreements with the university they were enrolled in because I have a hard time seeing a place like Harvard agree to such a demand and I know that at least CP Frederik studied there (and CP Victoria?).
There was a story about William almost losing his wings the December before he quit the RAF. I saw it shoved at the end of an article about him on the Daily Mail. The whole article was about something else related to him and this paragraph was just tacked onto the end. It is always interesting when the press dares to slip in this stuff.
They rushed him through training last time, taking only 13 weeks instead of the required time. He was never fully trained, which is part of why he has been a co-pilot not pilot.
Nota
I don’t think William is dumb. He didn’t have to be rushed. He just doesn’t prioritize his studies and feels exceptions should always be made because of his title.
It’s just entitled behavior. Not lacking in intelligence and others here seem to be suggesting.
Florc: for the past we’ll never know since corners were cut because of his privilege. For the present and future, you only have to look at his record.
People discuss Kate’s public addresses ad naseum, but has anyone ever really listened to William’s addresses? Complete bollocks, platitudes with wierd jokes. Put him in a room with people who don’t care about his title and see how horrendously vapid he truly is eg President of Singapore and POTUS/ white house press corps.
LAK
Completely agree. William is so poorly prepared. I find myself cringing at a few of his public speaking moments. Still, I think this is a case of entitled raising He could learn and he could be great. Instead he focuses his time on idle activities and not educating himself for his future position. And that position could come tomorrow. He’s 2 slots away from the throne. Yes his family tends to live long, but you can’t guarantee that. Ultimately, William is capable of learning and bettering himself. He just won’t put in the time or effort imo. And why should he? snap his fingers and messes get cleaned up, jobs appear from thin air, and PR takes care of the rest.
He needs to mature in so many ways. He’s in his 30’s and has a family. That Kate will be staying with her family again postpartum is silly. I doubt William will be around again and not be training like George and his bespoke program he barely attended.
In short. This 30 something father needs to stop messing around and grow up.
LMAO!
Me, too!
Word. I am a passenger in a helicopter semi-regularly, and I would NOT want to go up with a pilot (or even a co-pilot) who did not take the job very seriously. If anything goes wrong, you can be in (literally) deadly trouble. Some of the pilots I go out with have been in really hairy situations and gotten out of them, but they also have decades of flying experience and fly REGULARLY. I wouldn’t even want William piloting me for an easy joy ride in perfectly calm conditions, to be honest.
I’m surprised he doesn’t start immediately after the baby is born! What a great excuse it would be to get away from the kids and wifey!!! Alas, it does make me wonder if he’s struggling with his “studies”. LOL.
There are two things he doesn’t like, being domestic with the wife and son and working. But which is worse for him, I think working.
It gives him an excuse to hide, from royal engagements and domesticity. We’ll be told he’s at work, like we were told he was full-time at SAR. Later on news will emerge that he was rarely at work, just like it came out at SAR. And Middleton will let slip (again) that he wasn’t around for the first six months of this baby’s life either.
He was off partying with his boys and Jecca Craig.
Isn’t this a dangerous job for someone so close to the throne? It’s not like he is working in the airport gift shop.
kcarp
This has come up.
It’s been speculated and discussed William will be given special care.
Rumors… To the best of my knowledge. Some might have been confirmed.
The Queen might donate a special helicopter to the EAAS for William to pilot. It’s special because it’s bigger. A normal air ambulance only has select spots to keep weight down. And extra body would take up weight and space.
Also, William would need a body guard. Someone not only trained as a paramedic (to have purpose and be useful), but also to save William and prioritise him above all others.
Now, all that aside we have this. William is an extra body for a job that had to be created for him. Also, his salary had to be created. That charity donation he’ll be making is coming from somewhere so he can say he’s donating it.
And this is a serious job. It’s not to be taken lightly and not to be a place holder. It’s a career. He’s making a mockery of the position.
Why can’t he just go shake some hands, play polo, and keep discreet mistresses like a regular royal. He makes everything so difficult.
(Kaiser I know this quote isn’t from you). “He is already a qualified professional pilot ” No, he’s a poorly-trained co-pilot. He’s not first seat, and he will not be first seat at EAAA for a long time.
The rumor is a brand new, larger helicopter had to be purchased after the furor that was raised online. It was leaked that the paramedic position in the helo would house William’s RPO, and that all the RPOs were getting paramedic training. That meant one less dedicated, trained paid paramedic having a job.
In an emergency, the RPOs first duty is to keep William safe not save the patient. Once that was leaked, news of a brand new larger helicopter being donated came out to try to quiet the complaints. The alleged new one will house pilot, co-pilot (William), paramedic, RPO – oh and the patient. Trouble is, there are good reasons why they use the smallest helicopter they can. They need to be able to get into the tightest of spots and the new bigger helo might cause problems.
This new helo also creates an enormous security problem. Either everybody will know William is in the helicopter because it will be the larger one. OR they’re going to endanger lives and provide lower quality of service by sending out the unnecessary larger helicopter more often – whether or not William is in there. That will lead to more of the PR BS we heard from SAR. The staff were ordered to tell everyone William had saved them – when in fact he was nowhere to be found.
That huge helo is going to make it really easy to track William. Won’t be able to hide when he’s working and when he’s not.
They’ll send out the larger helo when William isn’t in it – when it isn’t necessary – for either security or PR reasons. Endangering lives so William can avoid royal work.
NOTA – I don’t really understand exactly what he is studying for, either. The conversion courses from military to civilian are pretty brief. Most of the military tests count towards a civilian licence. Surely he’s passed most of the theoretical stuff already?
Sixer, I think he’s woefully unprepared to be a rescue pilot and now that he’s with a smaller unit, that they are having to go back and train him properly. He got the royal treatment and completed his RAF S&R training in 13 weeks, compared to 20. Now, we all know William is no Mensa candidate and had a habit of flitting off on vacay with Kate and his friends, so it’s really no surprise he needs training.
It’s the only explanation, isn’t it? Any other ex-military person could do that conversion in a couple of weeks, just by going through the motions. If this qualification is so extensive and such hard work, the only conclusion is giving the lie to everything we were told previously. Or, of course, he’s not actually studying for anything right now. One or t’other.
And he’s not going to be pilot, he’s going to be co-pilot. He won’t qualify for pilot for some time.
BBC article says that the 13 wk RAF training included a skiing holiday in Klosters with P Charles.
I think W is looking for a way out of this job. I agree, he thought he’d roll out of bed show up with his military experienc, make a big show of working hard (for the cameras), then go off to wherever he goes when he’s not working. And since everyone signed NDA’s, there’d be no fallout. But I don’t think these SAR guys are down for that, so he needs to find a way out that makes him look heroic/normal/just like us!
I’d love to know what he’s been doing for the last couple of years. His moaning about his privacy has totally worked.
That’s what I wonder, Red Snapper. All that running away from responsibility: what does he actually do? Is he just in a room somewhere playing XBox or something?
It was 13 weeks instead of the standard four years of training the last time around.
Like Daddy, like son. A..hole.
Get Harry on the throne after he is done with all his Las Vegas style “fun” stuff.
Noooo…!! I don’t want our Prince Hal turning into Henry V anytime soon. I like him scampy.
Spring. Summer. What’s the big deal? They are both seasons that begin with the letter “S”. I’m sure that’s where the problem lies. Everyone was just confused.
William is lazy. His wife is lazy. And it’s going to be interesting to see what excuse he comes up with to push this start to later in the year. Besides, you know the fact that he isn’t qualified to do the vanity job he wants to do.
Isn’t the China trip in a few weeks? Is he preparing for that or will he bomb on the world stage again?
Where does he get this laziness? Both his parents are/were very hard workers–it just doesn’t make sense!
From what i can recall his father was similar when he was that age – didn’t do much royal work until he got married. Over the years Charles has built up his working rep but he was a late starter. Diana didn’t really start royal work until both boys were at school, by then she had become more confident in her role. The different between them is that it’s obvious William doesn’t want to do any royal work ever (its obvs he hates it) and Kate is the same – she’s had years in the spotlight and will have gotten used to the attention (something Diana never got) and she’s always been adept at playing the media. They are both ‘will nots’.
Charles graduated from Cambridge in 1970, served in the royal navy from 71-76, and started the Prince’s Trust in 1976 at age 28 with his navy money.
Diana did more engagements her first year of marriage (around 200) than Middleton has done in any of the last four years.
William’s workshy ways are his own, he doesn’t get them from his parents.
Diana’s first speech (3 months in) was partly in Welsh and she did an excellent job, and though she was nervous, there was no hair flicking. The speech is on YouTube and you can hear the warmth and sincerity in her voice. Remember that Diana also gave birth to William 11 months after her wedding. Diana, unlike Kate, really hit the ground running. Her work ethic did not get passed on to William, unfortunately.
My apologies – I got my dates mixed up with the whole Princes Trust thing as i thought he started after that he got married. My bad. What i meant with Diana was that she didn’t really start pushing her royal work until the boys were older, in the sense that she got really behind some of her charities (Aids, homeless etc..) and shilled them like a pro. For all her faults she would have been a good Queen consort and ambassador.
Betti, Diana was doing the bread-and-butter royal engagements, 200+ per year from the start. She started the higher profile work later, but she did the day-to-day that Bill and Kate refuse to do all along.
Oh I am so tired of the “She gave a speech in Welsh!” trope! I see it all the time! She said TWO short sentences! And she read them off a card she was holding in her hand. I’m not knocking her accomplishments, which were many, but she did not give a speech in Welsh!
Red
When it’s not your native tongue it’s so tricky to get it right. I’ve attempted Welsh and it’s not easy. You also want to speak it correctly, but also in a way that can be understood. Accents can throw it all off. The point is she tried. And the rest speaks for itself. Diana worked. And her engagement numbers say it all in reference to William and Kate.
Charles, Diana and Harry have all shown themselves to have been and are hard workers re gards to royal work.
Florc we are in agreement. When people critcize Kate for not making speeches, often, I’ve read “well, Diana once gave a speech in Welsh!”. She didn’t. She read a few words off of a cue card. And I’m not dissing that! It’s more than Kate’s done. It’s more than I’ve done, but it’s not a speech.
I believe I said, “partly in Welsh,” but no matter. Still a better speech than Kate is doing several years into her marriage and after 10 years of courtship/Princess prep. Diana got out there, prepared for speeches, did the work.
I got it Red. She spoke briefly in public in Welsh. Not a full speech.
I’m not really a full Diana fan. Interesting woman with a very complicated life, but she was as good as she was bad. Still, her work engagements are impressive for a 19 yearold courted after a whirlwind 6months and thrown out sink or swim.
I’m half Welsh. Welsh pronunciation is HARD. Jus’ sayin’.
Here’s the speech in question:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2sjrbK3J3k
It shows her speech as two-parts, with the latter part explaining what she said in Welsh later on in the video.
One can see that Diana remembered the first part of the Welsh bit but possibly got nervous and referred to her notes afterwards. But at least she tried to remember it.
For the English part, she did keep looking at her cards during the first part of her speech, but in the later part, she didn’t refer to it as much. I credit it to her having tried to remember the whole speech, both the English and Welsh part, but looking at her cards based solely on nervousness.
The speech took place on 10/29/1981, the same year she was married, and about eight months into the marriage. For Diana, her royal work started right away, iirc. She was 20 years old at the time of this speech.
I can contrast her speaking abilities and work ethics to Kate in that Diana did try to be professional in her work from the start whereas Kate still can’t make a three-sentence speech without reading off the card after every other word as if she had never read the speech before and had never even attempted to remember any of her speeches, no matter how short they were and no matter how much time she had to try to do so.
It’s not because of a lack of doing speeches imo, but because of a lack of wanting to do the speeches as part of her job. As I said before, when she does give her speeches, she sounds like she’s more interested in how her accent sounds rather than in appreciating the importance of what she is saying.
Anyhoo, just my two cents worth.
Sixer, I hope you take no offense at this. Welsh looks like alphabet soup to me, with a triple serving of the letter Y. I have trouble reading books with Welsh character names or words, and try to find them as audiobooks instead. Add in local names vs. the English version and it keeps me guessing ( Yr Wyddfa vs. Snowdon)
Kate must have gotten used to speaking in front of an audience at university. Giving presentations is required at university. So why does Kate do a poorer job than Diana who was both younger and had no academic education?
I remember when William was about to embark on his gap year. He wanted to play polo all year and Charles told him it was too indulgent, so William spent some time in Chile working with the poor.
So the East Anglia Air Service has basically been forced to create a job for William, pay him (I hope he donates his salary back to them….), get a new helicopter to accommodate his RPOs, and wait patiently (or impatiently) while he faffs around completing courses that should have been a cakewalk for him if he’d trained properly when he was with the RAF. All arranged, of course, around his important vacation schedule, hunting trips, and the occasional royal duty done, no doubt, under pressure and unwillingly.
What an utter tool.
I believe I read awhile back when this first came out that he’s donating to a charity of his choice, not necessarily back to EAAS. If that is true it means not only do they have a useless prat on their payroll, but they’re not even getting his salary back in donations. They created a sinecure position for his ego, rather than giving it to an eligible person who needs the salary more than William definitely does. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater!
What a SNAFU for the new PR dude.
Becoming a co-pilot seems like such a strange way to get out of work. I mean, If I was really looking to not work, I would not do something as high-profile and regulated as the military. I would lower myself into the bowels of doing the accounts for my trust or some other office-type job. His choice of ‘work’ is just so strange to me, given his obvious dislike for work.
Is “SNAFU” and acronym for something?
FLORC: it stands for Situation Normal, All F&$ed up! (or in polite parlance, “fouled” up, lol)
Feeshalori
hehe thanks!
Perhaps he likes the splashy image of being a pilot rather than someone behind a desk. Your idea is better but maybe William’s ego got in the way.
Brotherly ego thing happening? Great quote from Marina Hyde’s twitter Feb 10 2012
“Have spent much of today learning how sh t Prince William’s helicopter is compared to Prince Harry’s. It’s basically Budgie v Airwolf.”
Harry’s actually supposed to be genuinely good though, right? I raised an eyebrow when Harry came to the States for training because I was thinking please don’t waste US tax money on their PR. I hope Harry actually put his training to good use -I admit I didn’t really follow his military career.
General quotes about Harry’s flying ability.
“[Prince Harry’s] got a tremendous aptitude for [the front seat] but, like his fellow Apache contemporaries, he also has tremendous empathy for those on the ground. We are not in the business of bombing from 25,000 feet; we are part of the ground battle and employ the aircraft accordingly. Harry fits into this environment perfectly, he has talent in spades and is a master attack aviator, an amazing and most commendable achievement.” ~ Commander Tom de la Rue
In February 2012, Harry became a fully operational Apache attack helicopter pilot, & went almost straight into pre-deployment training. During a dinner to mark the end of the course, he was awarded the best co-pilot gunner trophy out of about twenty others on his course. ‘This is an incredible achievement, as most people are never remotely capable of even getting into the back seat and flying this aircraft, let alone doing what’s required in the front seat.’ ~ Commander Tom de la Rue
“I think there was a general perception that Prince Harry was in his brother’s shadow & that his brother was more able, more talented & more academic than he was. I think the discovery that he’s one of the very best of his generation, at something that is very difficult that he does very well, is a big watershed. One of the things that’s very clear is that people relate to him & they really like him & this isn’t because he’s a sex symbol. There are many more layers than that.” ~Sir David Manning
I just read Penny Junor’s book on Harry, “Brother, Soldier, Son.” It went into a lot of detail describing the amount of training, competition he faced and it turned out, an innate skill. Sounded like he not only surprised himself, but the other senior officers as well. The book admitted he had a harder time passing the written tests, but his flight skills were superior.
Maybe he does feel competitive towards Harry?
Thank you for those quotes, NOTA. Sorry for the late reply. I love that Harry has this genuine and very difficult achievement to call his own. There’s always a bit of an underdog quality to Harry -I hope he comes into his own.
He has been fully trained by the RAF and graded while attending University. I find the majority of comments to be based on dislike versus truth. If William were so lazy he would be doing absolutely nothing. The RAF would not allow him to skip training just because he’s next in line to the throne. That is fact!
Daughter of Jean
It’s been poited out above by those with knowledge on this his S&R training left out what he will need for this post.
And could you point me to where his grades were released?
Also, while the RAF business was going on there were many reports out there of William seen partying when he was said to be working. Drinking and piloting must be seperated by many hours so if he was seen drinking he couldn’t show up for work later on.. Like when Wales was underwater and recscuing was happening.
And it was said his superiors had it with him. Not giving proper notice before taking leave, not turning in proper requirements for his position.
You can say it’s fact, but it doesn’t make it so. And because William is an heir means more that he is protected from bad press. It’s far more likely he will be raised up than torn down. When was the last time a heir was reported as being worse tha the spare?
Unless you are stating he is 2nd (not next) in line to the throne as fact. Then yes that is fact.
Florc, look on Wikkipedia. His marks are posted plus all of his accomplishments which are impressive. The people in the know above are basing their opinion on gossip. My father is a member of the RAF. There is no possible way he got through training without going through the same channels as all other pilots. Get a grip. I’m not saying you have to like the guy or approve of everything he does but base your opinion or comments on fact not bs. I’ve followed the Royal Family for years and I think the whole idea of royalty is archaic but I’m not about to criticize them based on lies.
Is the BBC a gossip site? If you Google BBC magazine William RAF training then you will find a news piece from a few years ago saying they created a 13 week bespoke training program that cut corners and gave him priority over other pilots for flying hours. It also mentions that in the middle of those 13 weeks he found time to go skiing in Klosters with P Charles. Fact or gossip? If you think William and were your father were treated the same, then let me tell you about my friend the Nigerian prince who has unfortunate cash flow problems.
I went and looked, and not to argue with you either. I was actually curious and wondering if I’ve been a bit unfair to him. It said he got second class honors as marks; is that what you mean? Not sure. I think I was expecting actual marks for his classes. Did I have to click something I didn’t see to view those? I’m not sure that negates the comment about not actually being graded, but I take your point.
However, looking at his achievements I think you and I must define impressive differently. I’m not saying he hasn’t done anything at all don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t blown away either.
Get a grip DoJ? I’m asking, not attacking.
I will say military systems do favor those with connections. You absolutely can get perks with connections. This is well documented through out history.
I’m sure your father earned his place. No question. William though wouldn’t have even made it into the RAF initially. He had a team figure a way to pass him in. His eye sight was poor. A rule was found for glasses, but it wasn’t told, offered, or applied to anyone off the street wanting to fly in the RAF.
And I have also followed for years the BRF. Which is why I know some things as they happened that were documented and are now harder to find aka whitewashed. URLs that go nowhere or to new sites etc…
And by grades I was hoping for more of a number or letter system. That was my question. And bluhare has summed it up well. I was also looking for actual marks.
I think overall DoJ you under estimate the power of William’s titles. Even from William taking a helicopter out to land in the Midds backyard during their dating years. His superiors were said to be scrambling to justify this display. Later they called it a training exercise, but it caught many who would have known about those exercises off guard. and cost 40k pounds I believe. That treatment would have anyone else kicked out.
Here is something from the Telegraph about many of the current royal families grades and degrees
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1531553/The-family-qualifications.html
He got a 2:1 in Geography from St Andrews. I can’t believe they just gave it to him and he did nothing for the four years there?
Here is the BBC article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7339475.stm.
And here’s an article explaining the various credits military pilots get against training for a commercial licence: http://www.london-helicopters.co.uk/helicopter-training/military.
If William had done the full RAF training, he’d have those credits and he wouldn’t need all the extra training he apparently does.
It’s not gossip, Daughter. It’s the truth. Now, we can say that whatever William did in the RAF was better than him doing absolutely nothing at all, which seems to be the likeliest alternative, but we can’t say that he trained to the same level as his colleagues.
Sixer – thanks for posting the links, especially the BBC article! Wow, William totally got a huge ‘break,’ training time cut in half?! Its reminding me of Andrew getting his Vice Admiral promotion from the Queen. Dickie Arbiter recently tweeted that Anne’s husband, Timothy has that title, but he actually earned it. ha
LOL at your comment! He’s been doing nothing since December. Unless you count Mustique as “something” which I don’t. We are told he’s been studying and training. The the start date for his job is pushed backed. Then it’s pushed back some more. As I commented above, Williams complaining about his privacy has worked like a charm because we literally have no idea how he spend his days for weeks and months at a time.
That’s right red snapper you don’t know how he spends his time.
We know he isn’t spending his days working. That’s one fact that is not in dispute.
TOM, if it isnt in dispute why are you commenting? Because it’s not fact! It’s gossip.
The Court Circular doesn’t have him doing anything until China. There haven’t been any twitter sightings of him at his charities this year. That’s not gossip. That’s fact. If you know of something. please post it.
Daughter of Jean: It’s not gossip, it’s fact. He shirked his attendance at this year’s BAFTA to extend his vacation despite the fact that he’s president. He left his RAF position after 3 years despite the fact that the £800,000 of training that each helicopter pilot undertakes means that recruits are expected to serve for six years in the role. He left the RAF with ‘outstanding training costs’ said to be £400,000 that he won’t have to pay back. He “graduated” Cambridge’s bespoke agricultural course with a third-class honours degree, putting him in the bottom 15th percentile of attendees. Even though the course was only 10 weeks he interrupted his studies to take a vacation to the Maldives and go hunting in Spain. His public duties are sorely lacking, coming in at a yearly average of 13 official engagements, 4 overseas engagements, a handful of sports and arts related events and about 8 weeks of “vacation”.
I rest my case.
Jaded how do you know so much about the bespoke Cambridge course? I’ve looked everywhere and found nothing. I didn’t think he’d even finished since a certificate would be something that could be “spun” as a “huge achievement”.
Red Snapper – I can’t remember the website where I found the information, but if you google “William third class honours” I think you’ll find it. It’s dubious that he actually “graduated”, he was probably given an honorary degree. Apparently he wasn’t liked very much by the students he met there….how unusual (*sarcasm*)
No, DoJ he wasn’t fully trained.
Can you be an RAF pilot in 13 weeks?
BBC News
April 11, 2008 – Training a pilot in the RAF normally takes up to four years – so how did Prince William get his wings in under four months?
Daughter of Jean: The Ministry of defence disagrees with your assertion that they trained William to be proper RAF pilot.
To paraphrase from that BBC article referenced by everyone in this thread, the MOD specifically said they wished to give him a taster because he wasn’t expected to be an operational pilot.
At best they would train him to be a competent pilot, would skip most of the training that was normally given to regular RAF pilots.
RAF Squadron Leader Chris Carder, who was in charge of training at RAF Caldwell went on to add that William had received his wings in a lot less time than if you or him had joined on the same day as William because William wasn’t expected to become an operational RAF pilot.
Consequently, a 26week initial training course took 13 weeks for William, and entire 4yr exercise for regular RAF pilots took a grand total of 4mths for William. Started 7th January 2008 and graduated 11 April 2008.
The MOD goes on to say they created a bespoke program for William.
Now why would the MOD put all that information out to the public, to the BBC no less?
And have you noticed how frequently William attends ‘bespoke’ programs?
At this rate, we should question everything since he left Eton. At least we can say he got his A Levels fair and square and no ‘bespoke’ programming there since Eton is full of Princelings and Lords Fauntleroys from around the world who are have more wealth and power than he does/did.
Thank you LAK, great information to add to the “Willnot” pot.
Bluhare look a little deeper. He did pretty well over all. He wasn’t given the marks. He actually had to do the work to attain them.
Give up daughter. Some people on here don’t care about the facts. They want to believe dirt! It’s way more fun to make up crap or buy into gossip some reporter spins to sell rags. The truth is actually quite boring. You know….happily married couple, good parents blah blah blah.
Most people here have a great deal of knowledge, I’m surprised by how much they contribute to a variety of current topics. We don’t believe dirt, we research fact. We don’t make up crap, we read, and then we make educated comments. None of us really give a toss about how well the Cambridges get along in their marriage, we are concerned because we (Brits and Canadians) actually support these two sloths and their PR machine is running out of steam.
Maggie
We do care. That’s why commentors are stating facts WITH the web links to back up the statements made.
We’re not pulling it out of thin air and not giving any information to confirm.
Facts are being stated that contradict firectly the statements DoJ is claiming as fact.
No spin. No bias. The facts simply don’t support what DoJ is saying.
Maggie/DoJ
If you disagree with what is being said please post links or reference articles that prove your points and discredit ours. It shouldn’t be hard if what you’re saying is true.
We’re referencing BBC, Telegraph and the official press releases out of the Prince of Wales office. DoJ is referencing wikipedia.
I’m playing devil’s advocate here given all the negative comments, however did anyone ever consider the delay is due to William wanting to bond with a newborn second child as much as his wife’s time post partum?
Last time around, Middleton was quoted saying that William wasn’t around much for the first six months of the baby’s life and she just had to learn to cope. He was working 2-3 days a week at that point, so he chose to be away from them. She ran home to mummy and he went – well, nobody really knows where.
Wow, if true, that’s really disturbing. Does anyone know for sure where William spent much of that time?
I’m over the pond- we really don’t get much in the way of details day to day.
Additionally, it makes me believe William is still hurting re- death of Diana especially if he runs away from everyone.
Or he’s just incredibly selfish and cares for himself first, second, and third. Everyone else including wife and children, is a distant thought at best.
Citresse: either it true or Kate is a liar. Although, I don’t understand why she would tell a complete stranger, during an engagement no less.
Goes hand in hand with confirming her pregnancy to a complete stranger this past summer, long before the official announcement – again either Kate was lying or the person she told, artist who made the poppy fields at the tower of London, is lying.
Citresse
What we know…
Postpartum Kate moved into her parent’s home for 6 months.
William did not. He was seen at various locations, but not at the Midds like a residence. He was seen vacationing and attending social events with his friends often.
I would suspect if he wanted to be with his newborn son he would have. And if William was around Kate wouldn’t have moved into with her parents and have the home upgraded to suit her needs long term (staff, security, Kitchen to suit George’s needs, etc…)
There’s a theory out there Kate slips on purpose. A subtle way of shaming William to return to her side if she strays too far for too long.
Well if you really study the engagement interview, it’s plain to see William is quite egocentric. He even jokes about it.
Kate is at a loss for words in many answers. She was probably just nervous. I don’t believe she is a stupid person. However, I believe she was coddled far too long by her parents which didn’t help her mature.
They had to re-film the Diana question four times and they gave her the answer. Her direct quotes from other events support the fact that she is incapable of thinking on her feet, whether or not William is around.
@NOTA – totally intrigued by this – I had no idea about the Diana question or feeding her the answer. Can you share where you found that (very telling) piece of info?
I predict… that the longer William is held off or holds off on doing his rescue-pilot job, the more time he and his staff can find a reason not to have this job in the first place.
One might be about security issues. Another might be because his dad offers him another job or he happens to find another job on his own.
Like someone upthread said, it would have been better if William got an indoor job, like an office job, in which his schedule is private and his appearance can’t be closely monitored.
Interesting comment! I also found out that Prince Charles gives a million pounds to William, Harry and Camilla yearly to help them out with their “public” duties. OK, Camilla and Harry get a pass but William? I think not.
Totally off-topic and not germaine to the discussion, but on a lighter note, he looks 45+ in that lead photo at the top of the post. Must be all that work-related stress.
I was going to comment on the same thing. He looks a good ten years older than his age.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1056413/bio
DoJ
You’re citing IMDB? These are not the best platforms to source your data from. Unless you want to know where someone was born and what future film projects they have coming up.
LAK, Sixer, Nota, and others are all posting articles that directly counter your statements of what you claim are facts. If you are indeed correct here you shouldn’t ignore their comments.
No one is picking you, but you are making claims that are not being supported.
I came to this site as a Kate supporter, but couldn’t ignore the mountain of evidence she wasn’t as her pr had billed her out to be. You’ve returned to the thread to post this link so i’m sure you saw the above comments.
Oh and the BBC is a reliable source? Please! His biography is quite impressive. And factual!
DoJ
The BBC wasn’t the only source stated. Would you so readily attack the MoD or directly from official palace press releases? More info is coming from those sources.
You’re still not countering. You’re only claiming the source is not credible while providing no direct info to contradict the point. Just attacking 1 of the sources in a generalizing way.
I can claim something is factual all day long. Won’t make it true.
Are you intentionally ignoring the points being made and properly sourced here you can’t poke holes in? This feels like trolling that you ignore credible points and won’t directly engage those offering sources directly.
Did you read my link? Why are you dismissing my link which is more reliable than the BBC?
Daughter of Jean: How old are you? I’m genuinely curious, no snark, because no adult person would quote an entertainment website over the BBC especially where royals and the military are concerned.
The BBC is a trusted news source worldwide. Imdb is great for checking favourite celebrity’s TV/film work and work schedule, but it’s not a news website.
It’s very selfish of him to take on such a dangerous profession and yet continue being a royal and an heir to the throne. If you want to live like the a regular person – give up being a royal and do what you want. If you want to live like a royal, then accept that you have to give up some things. He is incredibly selfish and british people appear to be totally ok with that. Unbelievable!