Last month, “sources” let it slip that Prince William has really been missing his career as an RAF pilot during this, his “transitional year” in which he fiddled around at Cambridge and went on three vacations in two months’ time, plus one “grueling” royal tour that seemed more like a taxpayer-funded vacation in Australia and New Zealand. The “sources” claimed that William was looking into the possibility of becoming a commercial pilot because he missed having an excuse to avoid royal work being up in the air. My headline was: “Prince William’s latest scheme to avoid royal work: becoming a commercial pilot?” Well, now there’s a new scheme: William is considering taking a job with the East Anglian air ambulance service.
After stepping down as an RAF search-and-rescue pilot over a year ago, the prince is said to have a “day job” with the East Anglian air ambulance service near his country home at Anmer Hall in Sandringham. The role would involve 10-hour shifts working on a five-day rota, with three days off.
The majority of air ambulance pilots have a military background and have landed helicopters in some of the most inhospitable regions of the world, including combat zones. The East Anglian Air Ambulance began thanks to an appeal launched in 2000 by jockey Frankie Dettori. He was a passenger on the plane that had crashed, killing the pilot. Because the region had no air ambulance service at the time, another aircraft flew the casualties to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
According to a Sunday Times report, Prince William told aides that he is not ready for full-time royal engagements. He is supported by father, Prince Charles, who has expressed regret about leaving his Royal Navy post too soon.
“The duke is fully committed to his foundation and charities, but he feels he had not yet got flying out if his system,” said a royal aide. “Should the duke and duchess grow their family, the duke is keen to take on a role which enables him to see them most days. The royal family is fully supportive of the plan.”
On 29 May, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit an air ambulance team during a trip to Crieff, near Perth. Kate Middleton wrote a foreword to a book about RAF wives which will be published next week: “I cannot pretend that I didn’t feel anxious at times when William was on shift in howling gales, knowing that he was out flying in extremely challenging conditions, but he loved doing it and I always felt incredibly proud of him.”
Prince William is taking what palace aides have called a “transitional year”. He is spending time raising his son George as well as working for the United for Wildlife charity, which campaigns against illegal hunting.
[From The International Business Times]
Well, this scheme is probably going to be received better than the commercial pilot idea. And while I think the idea of being an ambulance pilot is a noble and enriching career path, I have some qualms. First of all, five days on and three days off? That’s a harsher schedule than he had at RAF Anglesey, which is where everyone claimed he was working full time but in reality (as we learned after the fact, of course), he was only working about eight days a month, and even then… he was taking a lot of time off. I don’t believe William would be able to follow a schedule that had him working five days in a row and then only a paltry three days off. When would he vacation?!
Second of all… it just feels like the schemes are getting more and more obvious. While I believe Charles doesn’t want William and Kate to steal focus and Charles would like them tucked away somewhere, it just feels like everybody else (the Queen, the British people) are tired of William’s petulance about royal work and his endless “gap years” and vacations and such. Enough is enough.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
IF it’s true that he wants to be an air ambulance pilot then good for him, but I seriously doubt that he’d work the same schedule as “the plebs.” I can see him maybe working 3 days a week tops, because otherwise it would be tooooo draining.
Mind you, it would still be better than the nothing he does now.
I agree. Working 5 days on and 3 days off? I don’t see it either. That’s almost a peasant’s schedule.
Queen Elizabeth is still alive and Charles is her heir. Now is his only chance to do what he truly wants. Once he is next in line to the throne he will have only royal duties to attend to. I am looking at a family business (albeit, nothing glamourous) that I will inherit along with my brother. I am grateful that my family is allowing us to do what we want before we are thrust into a business neither of us chose.
They take like full-time royals but give back next to nothing. If they want to live on his salary and inheritance alone, they can do whatever they want. In that case, they need to return the 57 room London mansion plus the Anmer estate. If they want to keep those millions of pounds worth of property, they need to work for it, and that means serving the taxpayers as full-time working royals.
“thrust into a business neither of us chose”
You don’t have to let them force you into it. You could chose to walk away if you really wanted. It’s the same with Will. He could chose to walk away–granted it would take far more legal doings than you, but he could do it. But Will doesn’t want to walk away because he wants the privilege and luxury the title brings him, but without having to do any of the work, hence the endless “jobs” to avoid actually doing royal duties.
Wouldn’t this actually be more work than being a working royal? At this point, it sounds to me like he’s not trying to escape work, he’s just trying to choose his own career path. I realize that goes against royal protocol, or whatever, but it’s hard to hate on him for wanting an exciting, fulfilling career – if that’s what’s happening here.
I think you raise a valid point here. It seems this job is more time consuming and taxing than walking around at a meet and greet. I get the feeling Prince William enjoys many if the trappings of being royal (who wouldn’t?) but feels the tremendous weight of being heir suffocating. I hope over time he will genuinely get on board and have the same passion for his royal responsibilities as he does his flying ones. Choosing to make the change on his own instead of being pushed into it will be the deciding factor in my humble opinion.
I would really like to concur – 1) I pay for him and 2) he represents me abroad – but since, when he WAS flying for a living, William took so much unwarranted time off – and NOT for royal duties – that he almost lost his pilot status, it seems unlikely that he wants a flying career or any other career for that matter.
+1
I agree. I don’t see how this is something to look down on him for. And I saw lots of pictures and write-ups of the royal tour they were on in Australia and New Zealand, and it seemed like a pretty normal royal tour to me. It seems to me that people want to e negative to the extreme on Prince William and Kate, but in reality it seems they are fulfilling their role in pretty much the way they are expected to. I also have to say that I appreciate the way she re-uses clothes. She obviously doesn’t have to wear cheap clothes, but she does seem to get some wear out of the expensive clothing she does own.
Charles (age 65) and Camilla (age 66) did almost as many engagements in their 3 day trip to Canada as Bill and Kate Middleton did in their 3 week trip to NZ and AU. No, W&K are not working up to the level of a regular royal tour.
Shocking. 😯
The thing I wanna know: is QEII & the PoW fully accepting of this decision? Or are they ‘accepting’ it because they know William is so stubborn that to do anything else is futile.
What about security? Does he create more problems than he does help?
If someone’s got one of those hand held missile launchers all the security in the world won’t help him.
•GoodNames• •Blu•
I think Harry once commented that the enemy can’t tell which pilot is flying so the anonymity helps keep them secure. Helps. But even with RPOs all over them they’ve had huge security breaches regardless. So my guess it’s pretty equal.
Doesn’t anyone in the BRF and The Firm actually SEE how bad this looks? Can William drag his feet any more on this particular point? And if the powers that be keep ‘accepting’ his decision to postpone Royal work — what happens when he can’t postpone it any longer???
@LadySlippers–that’s what I thought. This looks like a very obvious ploy to avoid work and I don’t even follow them that closely. But after taking time before getting married and then taking a year to do the class at Cambridge which he really didn’t do, and now this? He just looks lazy. Especially now that he is well into his 30’s, married and a father.
Presumably they’re thinking it can’t be for that long? Surely it’s only another couple of years and then QE and Philip will be unable to do anything much? At that point, Layzee-Boy really won’t have any choice as the Cambridges will in effect be the second most important unit rather than the third, as they are now.
I did say, didn’t I? If he’d just transferred within the military instead of leaving when the air sea rescue people were all made redundant, we wouldn’t be having this (ridiculous) conversation now.
BTW – where I live, we rely on an air ambulance service. Takes far too long to get critically ill people to A&E by road.
•Sixer•
William doesn’t seem to grasp the concept of long term plans or goals and this is rather proof positive. Staying in the military (rumour has it there are more helo squadrons in the RAF, BA, and the RN — who knew????) would have achieved his goal of delaying Royal work whilst avoiding this horrible PR issue.
My question/concern is even when he’s ‘forced’ will he really be able to buckle down to do the job? I’m starting to doubt it a lot.
I think that’s right in that he doesn’t seem to be capable of looking beyond avoidance for tomorrow and the next day. It all seems very childish.
I don’t think he could really have transferred to an active/combat unit (like the one Andrew served in) as a pilot because he couldn’t have ducked out as much as he did at Anglesey.
I expect he’ll grudgingly do a decent job at some point. Dilettante princes are hardly anything new. Having said that, I just signed a petition for a proper recall law for useless elected politicians instead of the fudge my government is proposing. Perhaps we also need one for recalcitrant princelings!
I think what’s disappointing to me here is that he took a gap year to come to this decision. It would have been one (still not great) thing if the gap year had led to some more official position, but this is ridiculous as it’s something he could have easily transitioned to right away.
•Sixer•
It seems ridiculously childish. I do think he could have found at least *one* squadron or desk job that he could flake out on. He’s a prince, if it wasn’t to be found it could be created.
A recall law for useless politicians? Really??? How awesome! Except, that’d be most of our politicians…..
And how’s your dad fairing?
•AM•
Agreed. Disappointing and William are two words becoming overly familiar with one another.
😯
AM: quite. As LadySlippers is saying, he doesn’t seem able to think past “Urgh. An official engagement coming up tomorrow, then another on Tuesday. I need a new cunning plan to get out of them.”
LS: Don’t you have recall laws generally? We’re being sold this as a desirable American import (like open primaries, which we don’t have either). But, of course, the Old Boys Club at Westminster has watered it down to “if the other MPs (not the electorate, WTF do THEY matter) don’t think they’re doing a good job they can be recalled”.
My dad – ever practical – is building up his cooking skills. Latest endeavour was a meat loaf – “It was ok, but not as good as your mother’s.”
Aww, Sixer, that’s sweet. Give your dad a hug from the celebitches!
•Sixer•
We might have recall laws but whether we actually USE them is another matter…. Wait, wait. I do recall back in the recesses of my brain that Omaha tried to recall the mayor a few years ago… It was a horrific failure and cost the people of Omaha a lot of money. Sounds about right. (I’m not actually in Omaha proper so I paid very little attention to this matter). But, my guess is that recall laws vary a lot state-by-state. I dislike it when people (ie your politicians) assume everything in the US is ubiquitous when it’s anything but.
I’m glad your father found something to keep him busy. Meatloaf can be tricky. I no longer use a recipe and ‘play’ with ingredients. Sometimes my results are awesome and other times, I’m just grateful it’s still edible! Lol
As for William. He just needs a swift kick in the a$$. Just because at this point. And a long term plan.
The big problem with recalls is that depending on how the law is written, it can take only a small handful of petitioners to force an elected official into a runoff. The big problem that I see in that scenario is that a politician doesn’t really have the opportunity to make the tough calls while in office, for fear of pissing off a small minority of people who are already mobilized against them because of their political affiliation or whatever. I would look really, really carefully at the way the law is written before I voted on it. 🙂
And no, we don’t recall as a way of life. Only 18 states allow for the recalling of state officials. The most in/famous example would be Schwarzenegger’s successful recall of Cali gov. Grey Davis. But it’s a rare thing.
•Stars•
Thanks for that! I forgot about that very public recall. Wasn’t that another colossal waste of time and money??? I’m such a big fan of politicians wasting my tax dollars… Not like they all aren’t pros at it anyway…
•Sixer•
I do agree with Stars. If you get involved in this particular venture, try and find an example that works on paper AND in real life. Most things seem to look stellar on paper only and are worthless in real world applications.
@bluhare and LS – I think he’s going for pastry today and we get the results as a meal donation. This could be good or it could be…
@all – thanks for the recall info. I agree that we forget how much US states differ – which is ridiculous when you consider that Scotland has completely different education and legal systems to England & Wales, let alone devolved parliaments. This is really about shutting up a populace still p!ssy over the expenses scandal; not a genuine move towards open or accountable government. Still, we *should* be able to recall, right?
Pastry, Sixer? PASTRY??? I, a baker, am in awe of someone who makes good pastry. If you tell me he’s doing flaky pastry I’ll eat my hat. (Or my last batch of flaky pastry which would probably taste worse.)
Shortcrust pastry, bluhare. He’s trying to do me a favour – by supplying apple pie for dessert – since my shortcrust is always ridiculously short. I leave it to rest for ages and ages, but it still curls straight back into a ball the second I start to roll it out. Mr Sixer does the pastry work in these ‘ere parts.
•Sixer•
Is it REALLY worth it? That I’m not so sure about. The two listed ones were colossal failures and I’m not sure if there are ones that honestly worked. So is it a pacifying measure or something real? And is a pacifying measure really worth it?
And everyone forgets that we are a conglomeration of 50+ soveriegn states (I’m including our territories too) — it’s not just y’all. We might be ‘united’ but we’re anything but unified.
•Blu•
You bake? How awesome!
My hat is off to your dad, Sixer. I make shortcrust pastry but I hate doing it so it never turns out as well as I’d like. English apple pie . . . . . . yum. YUM. You have bramley apples and you’re having it with custard, aren’t you?
LS: Yes, I bake. I’m a sugar addict and it’s the easiest way to get some!
Okay ladies, I have a question about William and I am wondering if one of you can please answer it. I have been wondering this for awhile. If William doesn’t actually want to do royal duties, why doesn’t he just say that and step back and leave public life? Is he even able to do something like that? Or does he continue to do the bare minimum because he doesn’t want to give up the perks of being a royal? Like lavish vacations, daily shopping sprees for Kate, etc.
That’s how I see William (and Kate). Lazy people who do as little as possible so they continue to keep the benefits of being a royal (without actually wanting to do ANY of the work that comes with being a British royal).
“recalcitrant princelings” <– LMAO!! I don't know whether to get this as a tattoo or start a punk band and name it this.
bettyrose: recalcitrant princelings = best band name ever!!!!
littlestar: I think a lot of us ask that question as well. My easy answer is he loves the perks.
littlestar: the solution to William’s problem would have been so simple if he’d married a catholic.
Unfortunately, voluntarily removing himself now would require parliament – UK and the Realms.
All of that said, royals are known to move pretty fast. His great Uncle’s abdication business took a matter of weeks. If he insisted on it, i’m sure it would be arranged just as quickly.
Looking back on William’s life, he has shown no curiosity outside of the perceived expected steps of the royal family even when it is clear those steps are making him unhappy or dissatisfied. His Uncle Edward opted out of the military and though that was ridiculed, it’s more gumption than William has ever shown. So i don’t think William will ever quit no matter how unhappy he is. In the meantime the perks keep him sated and unquestioning.
LAK,
Agreed. He’s likely unhappy but not unhappy enough to leave. Especially when his family keeps their expectations of him very light.
Sixer, I’m curious about Scotland, and the “devolving Parliament”. How do they view the royal family? And what do you mean by “devolving parliament”? How does Ireland view them as well? I had no idea that there was a different government.
@LS – What’s being proposed here is a recall when an MP’s peers (ie other MPs) consider them to be worthy of sacking. The petition I signed is for recall triggered by X number of the electorate. It would mean a by-election for that single MP – not too expensive and we have them regularly anyway for resignations and deaths.
@bluhare – I know. He rocks, doesn’t he?
@wolfpup – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have their own devolved parliaments. They have slightly different competencies (and NI’s is obviously complicated by the peace process/Good Friday agreement) but here are Scotland’s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Parliament#Constitution_and_powers. The UK isn’t ruled by one set of laws any more than the US is, is what I was trying to say. We are likely both appallingly ignorant about each other.
The attitude towards the EU is much more significant than the attitude towards the RF – as I say regularly on here, hardly anyone is fussed about the royals beyond bitchery and gossip. The EU? Now that DOES exercise us. Much more support for it in Scotland than in England, for example. The Scottish Nationalists are very pro-EU.
Thank your for that Sixer;
So the Kingdom of Scotland, merged with the Kingdom of England, in the 1700’s…and the devolved parliament, constitutes passing some of the same kinds of laws, that the states are able, in the US. Why are the attitudes, toward the EU, so very telling? How do they make a difference, and why are they important?
@wolfpup
Scotland was part of the British crown much earlier. For example, the beheaded Charles I was King of Scotland as well as of England and Ireland. True, he inherited the English crown being already a Scottish king by blood but still, he united the three crowns.
Another excuse to get out of being a senior royal. Getting the perks with none of the work. There is currently no opening for an air ambulance pilot. They will have to create a position for him and adjust the schedules to accommodate his latest whim.
No story about the full bottom snap of Kate from the tour? There was a bidding war and the German paper, Bild, won. I bet this is the real reason the Duchess has been in hiding.
•Mia•
Wow. She never learns does she? On the positive side — she has a nice bum. I just wish I didn’t know that as well as I do. Lol
LOL………
I thought this was a made up story because it was trending on tumblr and they get excited about all sorts, true and untrue.
Then Tanna and the express paper mentioned it. Holy Bild bare bottom!!!
Whatwhatwhat??????? What full bottom snap??? Why have we not heard about this?
Holy Bild Bare Bottom indeed!
I remember that day and the speculation & snarking we were doing about her hands holding down her dress. Little did we know she had already given everyone at the airstrip a view of the royal bum. Now I’m hearing there were more intimate pics from the balcony. She has truly outdone Sarah. Didn’t think that was possible.
I remember that day. I think we all commented on her holding her dress down most of those pics.
Hmmm: google Bild newspaper. They won the bidding.
Wowowow!!! I haven’t seen that before. She’s one trashy duchess. Thanks, LAK!
She really must enjoy being an “accidental” exhibitionist, given how she gets caught in these situations again and again.
Her whole bare bottom on display this time. Did she ever hear of underwear / knickers?
I want to say she was known to moon people in school and her nickname was Middlebum. Apparently, she still does.
It’s just TOO WEIRD to think that she’s doing this on purpose. At the same time, if I were in the public eye, the first time this happened would be the last.
Particularly since this happens to her almost every time she’s at an airport/around a helicopter. One would think she would circle those days on her calendar.
Well, the DM is finally reporting on it. Except they are reporting it as a privacy row.
I think they are being really sneaky because they are reporting it as ‘Bild magazine says’ whilst sending everyone to the Bild website which has many of the other flashing episodes uncensored.
DM and other UK media have never quite reported on extent of the flashing or shown the uncensored pictures so many people think she’s only ever flashed some thigh.
Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky.
Whilst remaining within the letter of the law.
I saw the particular bild.de webpage w/ the uncensored photo that you all are talking. Kate’s not wearing any underwear. Bare-bottom. Stupid grown woman….
How does that job allow him to spend more time with his family more than Royal duties? Even if he did an event a day, W/K take helicopters everywhere, so it’s not like he’d have to spend nights away (unless he wanted to…).
I also love how they threw out the possibility of them having another baby – distract the masses with BABIES!!! Then they won’t ask questions.
A 5 day on 3 day off schedule sounds way more grueling than a full time royal (or even part time) who can organise their schedule to suit his family.
How stupid does he think we are?
“Should the duke and duchess grow their family, the duke is keen to take on a role which enables him to see them most days.”
Did they just admit to him not seeing Waity and George?
As Shazbot just said, working a solid 5 days a week vs. doing nothing doesn’t exactly make sense if he wants to see his family more.
When they lived in Anglesey, it turned out that Kate spent quite a bit of her time away from him in London. Wonder how this will work if he’s at Anmer full time. A little odd when you think about it, considering Kate herself has said they didn’t see much of William when George was a newborn because of his job.
Shhhh AM. Facts only cloud the story!
*looks cross at AM*
LS,
Ha! I wish I could come up with some sugary way to explain away all of this, but I just can’t with these two.
I’m going with he’s just miserable because he’s not yet 35 and as bald as f–k with a proto-combover. Srsly, that first pic. Those Windsor genes take the kinda PEDs that’d make Lance Armstrong blush.
Thinking the same thing. Just homely. And lazy. And, he needs to stop thinking about getting a job and just get a job. If this was my spouse or brother, I’d really be in his sh*t about his lack of purpose and direction.
Like this is going to hapoen. Next month they will say he wants to be a fireman or policeman or a cowboy when he grows up.
The more I see and hear of William, the less I personally like him. Not that he will lose sleep over it.
LOL, eliza. Me too. Thing is, if enough of us start to dislike him that’s not a good thing for the monarchy.
Exactly what I was thinking! And “raising his son, George”?!
I know, Meerkat. The only raising I see William doing is raising him off the ground to hand to the nanny.
That wasn’t very fair, was it. He probably plays with him first.
What happened to his stint at the foreign office. Wasn’t that the plan for september?
I can’t keep up with all the exciting developments.
I heard the FO are throwing an impromptu party today!
A dodged the bullet party 🙂
LOL.
Ha!
Would the foreign office dare turn him down, LAK?
Not if he insisted.
This air ambulance service is only a rumour, but there is no vacancy at the service so IF it turns out to be true, you can be sure they created a position just for him.
They might leak against him though. For a diplomatic service, it can be a veritable sieve there.
Sixer: i’m hearing many Sirs Humphrey in my head or if he really pisses them off they might set that Damian McBride on him.
I always enjoyed Sir Humphrey and his convoluted civil servant speak!
What happened to his training, that he just had to do that, of course, required him not to work, to learn how to run the Duchy? He’s so super special he learned it all in under ten weeks?
That’s a good point, pleaseicu. Why train to run something if you aren’t going to go run it? You don’t retain information for that long if you don’t use it. At least I don’t, and if I remember right, this was the second class he took. I think it was LAK who said he’d gone down to Chatsworth to learn how to run the Duchy from them.
Good for him. He could actually help people doing this.
Yeah, he should take up celebrity gossip, now that’s a hard, community serving job.
He would probably have some good dirt on several people. I like this idea….
Can we discuss the new photos of a bare bottom Kate? UK Express reported on the bidding for the photos taken recently in Australia.
There are more than just the one???
Yeah, more than one. Girlfriend needs to invest in some full coverage underwear.
Not sure if there are more than one, but maybe Bild saves more for the print edition?
They already have 3 articles with that one photo online:
“thanks for that ass-tastic weekend” (shows the butts of Kardashian and others too)
“dress ban for Kate?”
“after popo blitzer: how to get a royal butt like Kate”
What a truly wonderful legacy that Duchess Kate is creating for herself. 😉
LOL, ArtHistorian. Great comment from you! Where have you been?
ArtHistorian: imagine our children learning about our pretty, silent Duchess with a shelf full of ‘accidental’ flashes. something to curate,no? what would we call the series of works?
She shall henceforth be known as The Barebottom Duchess!
Hi, bluehare,
Life intervened – my mother went AWOL for half a day between midnight and noon and that was rather hard on us, having the police out looking for her. She eventually came home on her own accord, but it is not good after she’d just been in hospital for 2 months. *sigh* However, I feel better now.
LAK,
A project for the future.
I am currently having an idea about arthistorical quoting in both the visual arts and in fashion, but it is in a very early stage. I’m still going to apply for a Ph.D. in history painting and cultural memory.
Oh no, ArtHistorian. That must have been awful. Glad you had a happy ending.
I found two doing a quick search. One on the royal grounds and one in a yellow dress. Amazing. I can only imagine what we would have seen if the red dress had blown up just an inch or two higher when she came of the plane. Oy vey!
Barebottom Duchess indeed!
The internet can really be gross, because someone took that NZ arrival shot, zoomed in, lightened it a bit, and now I know the state of the duchess’ wax situation. It was posted on a blog somewhere.
I find it hard to be upset that he would rather fly an air ambulance than perform “royal duties”. Good for him.
If he would like to give back all of the royal houses and security, he and Kate Middleton live on his salary then sure, go right ahead and be a flyboy. Otherwise he needs to suck it up and start working to improve the lot of everyone in the UK. THAT is his job, not taking a job from someone who really needs it.
Ah, so exacting and trenchant. And true!
For a guy who barely made his minimum flying hours, I feel for those who would have to take up his slack any time he wanted to bugger off. His scheming just gets sillier and more pathetic the older he gets. I doubt he will ever change unless he has a conversion experience.
I don’t think William has the power to say when and what royal duties he’ll perform. He needs to have a job. An air ambulance pilot is a a skilled and specialised post. I’m sure with his Search and Rescue experience he’ll suit the role.
At this point whatever he chooses to do he’ll get slammed.
@ Alice.H. It has been stated repeatedly, on record, by Palace officials, that the royals each set their own work schedule. Case in point, the recent laughably-lazy Club Med tour of NZ and AU, which royal staff went on record to say was entirely William and Kate’s own idea. They are choosing to be lazy, choosing to work 1/5 of what his 88 year-old-grandmother does. It is not HM holding them back, it is not Charles holding them back. William and Kate Middleton are in charge of their own schedule.
William’s eyesight disqualifies him from flying in the military, but he was allowed to do helicopter training because he wanted to and no doubt pitched a fit about it. Anyone else with his eyesight issues would NOT have been allowed into military flight school. Now he wants to take a job away from someone who 1) qualified legally without exceptions being made and 2) actually needs the job.
If he chose to do his duty – the one for which he is so richly and ridiculously paid in houses, security, and vacations – then I suspect he would not be slammed and held up as an embarrassment.
Charles founded the Prince’s Trust at age 28. That institution has helped tens of thousands of people in the UK. It now employs over 600 people, working to help people in the UK with job training and start-up funds for small businesses. THAT is the type of thing that William is supposed to be doing, not hiding away *pretending to fly helicopters* (while really skiving off to go hunting and skiing) because at age 32 he just doesn’t want to do his real job.
Agree Tuppence. Nice to see your name again!
•Bored•
If he were just anyone, I’d agree with you. But I’m firmly with •My2Pence•. He’s becoming an embarrassment to the BRF and just needs to buckle down and come to terms with his destiny OR work towards a bill that allows him and other family members that feel as he does to become private citizens. He can’t have his cake and eat it too.
Ladyslippers, he can have his cake and eat it! Dear William could probably teach toddlers a thing or two about throwing a tantrum!
Honestly if he hates working/royal duties so much can’t he do a pre-abdication? Officially remove himself from the line of succession and live off his inheritance like the stereotypical rich brat that he his?
(Side note, it seems I get cranky when I can’t sleep…)
Ugh! Again with the schemes!
Here’s my worry – IIRC, William’s entire flying career has been as a co-pilot. He’s never actually been in charge of his own aircraft or crew. There has always been someone with much more flying experience in the cockpit with him. On a big helicopter like the RAF SeaKing, that was probably easier to hide because they use 2 pilots regardless.
But at a bare-boned charity-run air ambulance service, William will be the sole pilot responsible for his craft & crew. The East Anglian service uses the Eurocopter, which is much smaller than the SeaKing & when kitted out as an air ambulance, has room for only 4 people, total – 1 pilot, 2 medical professionals & 1 patient. If William needs a back-up pilot, it will be at the expense of a medical professional.
And didn’t William almost lose his wings because he so rarely flew? Again, not someone who instills a lot of confidence to be the only person at the controls.
Also, why release such detailed info if it’s not an official definite thing? It almost looks like these ‘sources’ are wishing this to happen – like when an ex-GF leaks to the tabloids that the ex-BF is desperate to get her back, in the hopes that he might actually come back – *raises eyebrow*. And name-dropping The Queen & Prince Charles as having already approved of this scheme makes it look like William is putting pressure on the EAAA to give in to what he wants.
Ugh, I just can’t with William anymore.
•Mena•
You bring up some important points.
My guesses:
~William probably is perfectly capable to solo-pilot a helo. Their initial training on helos is WAY smaller than the SeaKing and more similar to a normal helo that the ambulance crew would use. He would go through more training (his favourite!) in order to obtain his commercial pilot’s licence and get certified for that specific aircraft.
~The SeaKing requires a larger crew due to size and complexity of the aircraft. So it’s kinda unfair to compare the two (but I get why you did).
~Almost losing his wings. That is an issue. Two things, the volunteer service won’t be able to let this slide like the RAF did. And I don’t see them covering up for him for the reasons you’ve indicated. Maybe he needs/wants to have his feet to the fire?!?
~The details. Kinda looks as if someone is trying *cough* force hands. Gosh, never saw another Royal do that…
I really struggle to see how QEII & PoW are okay with this. William’s gonna be 32 next month and has a wife AND family now. When does his extended adolescence end? Like for real?
@LS ugh, I know! *Monica Geller Voice*. I can’t see QEII or the PoW approving this either. And I think it’s really inappropriate that William even presumes to speak for The Queen and/or the PoW.
‘My Grandma & Daddy said I could’
Like he’s daring them – or anyone – to oppose him.
William has been working his fobbing off schtick for years. I mean, what is the endgame here? At the rate he’s going, William is going to be so far removed from Royal Life that when the time comes, if his father or the courtiers wish it, they could fob him off a la Edward without much resistance from anyone.
So why did he need to learn how to run a duchy? And now he needs more training for the ambulance? My first reaction is that I wouldn’t like him flying me anywhere.
wolfpup, I think the Cambridge course was on sustainable agricultural practices, so it wasn’t so much running the Duchy, but the agricultural aspect.
By the way, I will say the Duchy does produce some amazing ginger shortbread cookies. I got some at a local emporium and was pretty impressed. the Dowager bluhare liked them too.
Good point- who would want to depend on a pilot who almost lost his wings in an emergency situation? The idea beggars belief!
Also, why release such detailed info if it’s not an official definite thing?
I wonder if it’s merely to burnish this image as a hotshot, competent, well seasoned flyer whom any one would clamour to have on their team while the princeling decides on what offer to take. I call it “lying on your resume”.
Aren’t they famous for releasing things that don’t turn out to be true? Like the foreign office thing, and a million others I can’t even remember right now. William is supposed to tell people things to see who’s leaking to the press, so maybe some of it’s from that. It would be sort of fun to think of outlandish stories to feed friends to see what makes the papers, I’ve got to admit. Although if he really wanted to shock us all, he’d tell someone he’s so frustrated that no one is letting him work royal engagements.
@bluhare, when you say ‘they’ leak false info, do you mean royalty in general or just William? Because it seems to me that the flaky work announcements only ever come from William.
Other than needing to keep his military deployments a secret , when the media reported on Harry’s next career move, Harry has always followed through. Heck, even Bea & Eugenie follow through on their career intentions. I’m sure Harry, Bea & Eugenie have to weed out leaks too but they don’t jerk the taxpayers around like William to do it.
So, if William is feeding false info to weed out leaks it seems counterproductive to make himself look like a lazy work flake to do it.
It’s like instead of William showing Kate how to do things, she showed him.
First Kate was a photographer then an accessories buyer then a fluffer of tatty party supplies. The reason for Kate’s lack of initiative was she was waiting for a job at The Firm before she would actually work for real. IMO, William’s doing the same thing – he has become Waity Willie.
Hi mena, I meant William. I’ve read articles where they say he tells people things to see what ends up in the papers so he knows who he can trust. Can’t blame him, really.
Hey bluhare! *waves*. Oh, ok. Just William, then.
It’s awful if William doesn’t trust the people around him, but if the many many job scheme rumors are just ploys, I think it is doing William more harm than good.
Not sure the end (exposing a leak) justifies the means (reinforcing his rep as a workshy flake).
What do royals do? I don’t understand the complaints that they don’t work enough. Isn’t their “job” making a few personal appearances a few times a week? I don’t follow them to know if they actually do it.
•Samantha•
Most Royals work a lot. William and Kate are exceptions.
That’s exactly how I feel. I don’t see why William and Kate get such a hard time on here. They have to adhere to the hierarchy and can’t be seen to do more, or overshadow the Prince of Wales, so they do what they’re allowed to do and no more.
I’m far from a royalist, but they cost 1/10th of the Trident program and I know which one I think actually does more for our country year on year. For less than £1 per year of my taxes I’ll take the Royal Family over nuclear missiles any day.
Again, Palace officials on record have stated repeatedly that they set their own work schedule. They are not being held back by HM or Charles, they are setting their own schedule and choosing to be LAZY.
IF the idea is “the heir to the heir must be seen to do less” “they aren’t senior royals they are required to work less” how on earth do people explain away all of the engagements done by the folks much further down the line? Anne, Andrew, Edward, Sophie, Alexandra, the Kents, the Glouchesters, Prince and Princess Michael. The whole argument falls apart when you factor that in.
And as a reminder:
Average retirement age in the UK 64.6 for men, 62.3 for women (both are on the rise). Please note the ages of the royal workhorses vs. the lazy duo.
Her Majesty, 88
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, 92
Prince of Wales, 65
Duchess of Cornwall, 66
Princess Royal (Anne), 63
Princess Alexandra, 77
Duke of Glouchester, 69
Duchess of Glouchester, 67
Duke of Kent, 78
Earl of Wessex, 50
Countess of Wessex, 49
Prince Michael of Kent, 71
Princess Michael of Kent, 69
•Manjit•
The problem with your ‘overshadowing’ theory is you have no facts to support it. Charles was jealous of his young, beautiful wife almost 30 years ago. That logic doesn’t and can’t be applied to his own children (which directly reflect on the parent). Camilla and Harry often overshadow Charles and today’s Charles is chuffed rather than furious. (To be honest, almost anyone overshadows Charles and lucky for him — he’s come to terms with it).
Also, several offices have stated that William and Kate (as do all the Royals) create their own schedule. So it’s 100% in every Royals’ control whether they want to bust their chops or be lazy bums.
They don’t have to follow the hierarchy. The lesser royals work more than they do. No one is holding them back or telling them to mind the hierarchy.
I do think the best counterargument to the William and Kate being held back theory is the amount and quality of work that Harry does.
Even this weekend, Harry made a private visit to one of his charities. This is something that KP has claimed Kate does, in response to criticism of her lack of work, and yet there have never been any concrete examples of this for her. I can guarantee you if she was making these secret visits there would be media leaks with specifics.
Lady Slippers, I agree that almost anyone could overshadow Charles. It would be very dignified for him to come to terms with that, and to use the younger royals for good press, for the institution of monarchy. It would only reflect well on him to be the “controller”. To me this is just good sense, and any corporation would know that.
If the Queen and Prince Philip hadn’t publicly said they’re trying to cut back, I’d agree with you, Samantha and Manjit (and really agree with you vs. the Trident program, Manjit!). However, they are trying to cut back their engagements. They’re 88 and 92 (or somewhere around there; too lazy to go look). Charles has said he wants to streamline the monarchy and have the “senior” royals be those from his line. That’s William, Kate and Harry. So you’ve got two people who want to cut back, two people who already have relatively full schedules, which leaves William, Kate and Harry. That’s why William should step up — to help out his grandparents. At least in bluhare land.
Although it might mean there’s some slack for Andrew to make his case that Beatrice and Eugenie be included.
Bluhare, W&K make Andrew’s case every week that goes by without at least one appearance by Kate. If they are willing and able to take up the slack from the Lambridges, why not use them? It’s obvious nothing is going to push William to do more. Not guilt. Not duty. Not affection for his grandparents.
Though, I just read Bea has a new full-time job in finance. And Eugenie seems to be settling into her new life in NY.
I agree Mia. Glad to read Beatrice has a job. She and Dave Clark look almost as bad as William and Kate sometimes with their vacations and (lack of) work ethic.
What a couple of useless lightweights. Kate shows her bottom off whenever she’s doing a public duty event and William faffs around trying to decide what he wants to be when he grows up. I have zero respect for them, they’re a throw-back to the days when royals did nothing but spend money on themselves while the peons worked themselves into an early grave.
+1. Lightweights, indeed, and they expect to “inherit the Kingdom” despite failing to demonstrate they have the strength of character and wisdom to do so. And, that latest bum photo…all I can do is SMH. She’ll never learn until the Queen actually calls her on the carpet and demands that she wear appropriate undergarments whenever in public.
“appropriate undergarments”???! LOL – it didn’t appear as though she was wearing ANY at all!
isn’t it amazing when a grown woman has to be told that she has to wear undergarments by her employers??? yes they are also her inlaws, but it’s pretty amazing that conversation has to happen.
lol at the headline. You are hilarious, Kaiser 🙂
Oh, baby! Photos of Duchess bare bottom on the front page of the UK Mail. Huge story.
Good for him.
I haven’t had time to read all the comments but did someone mention that there are now new photos of Kate’s bare behind, taken while on duty in Australia and published in the German newspaper ‘Bilt’ . Absolutely no excuse , this happens way to often to be an accident, I think she is simply an exhibitionist. Perhaps she’s angling for the popular British tabloid title…. ‘Rear of the Year’
http://www.bild.de/unterhaltung/leute/catherine-mountbatten-windsor/und-kim-kardashian-schoene-kehrseiten-36136770.bild.html
That’s what I was wondering, if it has been covered. The Bild rules. LOL But this woman is amazingly cheap, really. We’ve had Kates in the family but they are totally bland compared to the lacking underwear bare bumped flashing Kate.
If William was truly interesting in a career in piloting he would have done it by now. He s just straight up lazy. If it is true that he was only working 8 days a month while he was with the RAF, AND still going on vacations, then he’s a lazy bum.
Love the headline, Haha!
Well at least she has a nice ass! Good for William for wanting to give back by using his skills as a pilot. Nice couple!
I am a RAF wife and I feel personally insulted that, that waste of space has wtritten a foreward on a book about RAF wives. What does she know about the reality of it. Go fiddle with your sausage curls and leave real life to the rest of us you dunderhead!
What is she now, the ultimate RAF wife?? Are we all supposed to look up to her??
Also, lets not even pretend she wrote it herself……..
Can anyone step back for a moment? Imagine that you are William. Since the day that you were born, you have been in line for the throne….and everyone keeps reminding you of that. You don’t go anywhere without someone watching what you are doing and with whom. You have security 24 X 7. You don’t get to choose your long term plans, they have been decided for you by your grandparents and the order in which you were born. Maybe he doesn’t like all of this royal patronage stuff? I sure wouldn’t. ..I’m an introvert. So maybe he is trying to find something to do that will be acceptable to his family and still keep him interested. Is that such a horrible thing? Have someone tell you what to do every step of your life for 30 some odd years and see how you feel about it. Then judge.
Happens all the time in rich dynastic families, but he most certainly has a choice, if he doesn’t like the life and all that goes with it he can jump ship, all he has to do is convert to Catholicism and he is out of the hierarchy.
I think it’s great, he’s a future king who won’t really have much time later to do things he’s actually interested in. Some people think he needs to be a full time working royal but I think it’s great that he’s continuing with what interests him. He won’t be able to choose soon, I’d say 5-7 years tops before the Queen abdicates due to ill health or dies, good for him for continuing to push back.
If he does end up going in to more royal duties, well I hope he doesn’t end up with a boat load of resentment later.
I think that William wants to really make a difference in the world. Sometimes, he may feel that without Catherine, his time that he spends rescuing people does a lot more good than all his political outings put together. As long as Catherine isn’t around, he’s a true royal, because he’s a hero!