Here are some photos of Prince William’s first day of his six-day tour of Japan and China. He arrived in Japan on Thursday. Apparently, he got a decent reception from the Japanese people, but I bet the reception would have been crazy if Kate had come with him. That’s not necessarily a slam on William – I just think most people are more excited to see the princesses and duchesses as opposed to the princes and dukes. You can read more about William’s first day in Japan here, at People Magazine.
This tour his first “work” of 2015. He’s had “off” for several months because he was studying for his pilot’s exams, which he needed to pass before he could fly with the East Anglia Air Ambulance. Last week, the Daily Mail reported that William’s start-date was being pushed back, perhaps to accommodate this Japan & China tour, perhaps to accommodate the new baby, or perhaps because William was having issues passing his exams. But! That report might have been false. Maybe. The official word from Kensington Palace is that William passed all of his exams before leaving on this tour:
Prince William will soon be back in the pilot seat to continue his dream of saving lives. The 32-year-old prince has passed all his exams needed to start work as an air ambulance pilot, his office has revealed. The former Royal Air Force search-and-rescue pilot passed the remainder of his tests shortly before leaving for a short tour of Japan and China late Wednesday.
He took “a total of 14 written exams on a range of aviation topics, including the Principles of Flight, Navigation, Flight Planning and Air Law,” says a statement released by Kensington Palace on Thursday.
The statement added that following his week-long tour to Japan and China, which began Thursday, he will start working for the East Anglian Air Ambulance. Formally employed by Bond Air Services, which provides the crews for the charity, the prince will initially have to complete another period of mandatory training, involving aircraft training, in-flight skills testing and further written exams.
William, who will largely be based with his young family at their country home Anmer Hall in Norfolk as he works around Norwich and Cambridge, expects to start “operational shifts” in early summer. Meanwhile, his wife Kate, 33, was quietly working behind the scenes at Kensington Palace on Wednesday. She met with Sandy Nairne, the outgoing head of the National Portrait Gallery, one of her key patronages.
Well, if it comes from KP, then it must be true, eh? I would trust this more if it came from the East Anglia Air Ambulance, but I guess they know what they’re doing. And no one would have proclaimed that William passed his exams if he did poorly on them. Right? So, now that he’s passed his exams, I expect he will begin a full-time work schedule in a week. Oh, wait – did you notice this? He “expects to start ‘operational shifts’ in early summer…” So for the next four months, he’ll really have to train and won’t be able to fluff about? My fear is that this is going to be just like his RAF gig – this kind of training is really expensive and it’s a significant investment you’re putting into these pilots, and William is just going to end up doing it for a year or so until he gets bored. It just seems like such a waste of time, effort and money.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
I don’t believe W will work a single shift. He will back out for security reasons. Or he needs to spend more time with his family. Or to concentrate on his royal duties/charities.
Oh, I think he’ll work a few, but it won’t be a ‘career’ for him the way it is for the other pilots. He’s a playboy prince, playing at helicopter pilot.
oh Willy… at least try to look interested!
At one point in my life, when I was already accepted into a one year long masters degree program, I chose instead to do a three year long because it was two extra years that I wouldn’t have to get a job and be productive. If William was really smart, he were to something longer than a couple of months of exams before he had to produce work. Of course, the difference is that I actually did a lot of work in my graduate program. And I suppose this is what William is really trying to avoid.
I may have gone to law school for the same reason. 🙂
Why is he even pretending at this point? We know he doesn’t work, he knows he doesn’t work, why pretend?
You should have put the quotes in the title around the word “work”.
Prince William apparently “passed” his 14 pilot exams, will start “work” soon-ish
There, all fixed.
Ha!
If his PR machine thinks this will lay to rest the “rumours” of his work-shy attitude they be wronnnnggggg.
He should never be allowed to fly. He is nearsighted and colorblind.
Under normal circumstances he would never have flown as he does. That’s a perk of being a prince. You have the resources for people to comb through books and old rules for a loophole to get you in.
And abusing or creating these loopholes IS DISGUSTING. I wouldn’t want to be rescued by William.
If he is colourblind then isn’t that a serious impediment during night shifts? And if so is he not going to do any nightshifts?
I don’t know the rules in England, but my husband is near-sighted and flew helicopters for the US Air Force. It depends on what you’re flying. It’s not a big deal to wear contacts or glasses in a helicopter because it doesn’t get the g forces that a fighter does. I don’t know about being colorblind.
Eulalie, yes. I was in a US Navy helicopter squadron back in the 80’s and many of the pilots wore glasses. In the Navy, a pilot has to start with perfect vision but over time many pilot’s vision does deteriorate in the cockpit. Pilots are allowed to continue using corrected vision because there are two pilots in a Navy helicopter. The key is the proximity of two pilots in the cockpit. Fighter and attack aircraft (in the Navy, don’t know about Air Force) have one pilot. Thus, perfect vision is required.
In fairness, William’s father received expensive training in every branch of the military, served very brief tours at each post, and then moved on.
http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/the-prince-of-wales/biography/military-career
Charles received expensive flight training and then only serve four months, for example. The goal was for him to gain knowledge of all the branches of the service. He served five years in various capacities, much of that time being spent in training; William served for eight.
All that having been said, it seems clear that the Firm thought William would start a full-time life of Royal service once he’d finished in the military. This air-ambulance thing feels like a real slap in the face.
It’s often said officially William will begin easing himself into his royal role post these adventures. That bespoke program was a course to better educate himself for doing just that. You would think he would want to start putting that knowledge into use while it’s still fresh in his mind.
Sadly, I think he has no intention of holding a piloting job even part time. It’s just something to keep him from being a full time royal. He needs to say his time is invested in something else.
When a royal family is actually ruling then it makes sense that the offspring learn everything military. But these royal sloucher aren’t really ruling any more. So why the expensive training?
What they need to learn is diplomacy.
It would be excellent if Prince William brought up wildlife issues on each of his trips. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t. For Japan, the annual Taiji dolphin slaughter could’ve been discussed
It was also stated that he would work as close to full tme has he can. This went from a grueling full time job to possibly less than 20 hours a week very quickly. But I suppose they need to make that clear for when he’s caught never working. Also interesting that he has started to make something of a habit of finding something new that will take him away from his family for large amounts of time right as they welcome a new baby.
I would think it would be an excellent move if William became a patron of a helicopter rescue charity or order. He could fundraise for a cause he is personally interested and invested in. And for fundraising or events he could operate the helicopter. It’s a win/win.
And are these exams pass or fail? Or are they graded more by percentage correct?
I guess it would be similar to the written driving school exams.