As we discussed on Friday, King Charles parceled out some new military patronages to the handful of “working royals” left in the UK. The Princess of Wales got three new military patronages, and William got several new titles too. William will become the Royal Honorary Air Commodore at RAF Valley in Wales and the Colonel-in-Chief of The Army Air Corps. In case that sounds familiar, the Army Air Corps was where Prince Harry served with distinction in Afghanistan. As you can imagine, the British papers are making a big deal about this.
Prince William is set to take over command of Harry’s old Army unit after a reshuffle of the Royal Family’s military appointments by King Charles. His Majesty has decided to appoint his eldest son as Colonel-in-Chief of The Army Air Corps, in which the Duke of Sussex served as an Apache helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, while also granting the Princess of Wales three new roles.
Announcing the changes, the Ministry of Defence said William, who qualified as an RAF search and rescue pilot, was now Colonel-in-Chief of The Army Air Corps. It means he will represent the Army’s airborne wing, including his brother’s former unit – 662 Squadron – with one royal commentator claiming Harry himself could have been in line for the role previously.
Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, told the Mirror it was ‘quite feasible’ that if he hadn’t quit life as a working royal – something that saw him stripped of his honorary military appointments – he might have been given the title.
He said: ‘Had Harry still been around he might well have had more appointments going his way.’
William has also become the Royal Honorary Air Commodore at RAF Valley in Wales – he previously spent three years at the base on Anglesey, taking part in 156 search and rescue missions and saving 149 people.
I’m shocked that they aren’t already crediting William with serving in Afghanistan, since it’s clear that William desperately wants to skin his brother and wear Harry’s face as his own. Keep in mind that Prince Harry was perfectly willing to continue to serve his military patronages, but QEII yanked them in February 2021 because the family was terrified about what Harry and Meghan would reveal to Oprah. They also banned Harry from wearing any of his dress uniforms to his grandparents’ funerals AND they refused to lay his wreath at the Cenotaph for Remembrance Day. All because Harry served his country in war and created the Invictus Games and William wanted Harry to give him credit for all of that.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.