Prince William gave a suggestion on June 18^th of his keenness to be deployed operationally on the front line, as happened with Prince Harry in Afghanistan.  The Prince’s comment was made to the media at RAF Shawbury, the home of the Defence Helicopter Flying School which trains Royal Air Force, Army Air Corps and Royal Navy helicopter pilots.

“I think as a future leader of the armed forces, it's really important you at least get the opportunity to be credible and to do the job I signed up for, as best I can”, he said.

“That's all I want to do.”

The Prince – who was awarded his RAF Wings in April 2008 - is presently training for the search and rescue role, a fact he alluded to. “The search and rescue role is now slightly different to obviously being able to go to Afghanistan, but it's still doing an important job”, he said.

Prince William’s statement came just days before the first Armed Forces Day at Chatham, Kent – an event aimed at promoting reflection on the British armed forces' past, present and future.  His words seemed to conflict with the opinions of military figures who, behind closed doors, are said to consider his front line deployment impossible.  The Daily Mail, however, quoted the words of an unidentified source with Royal/ RAF connections, who stressed: “It is clearly something said from the heart.”

Prince Harry in Afghanistan

Prince Harry served with the British Army in Afghanistan for around two months between December 2007 and February 2008.  His presence there was cut short when one publication leaked his situation into the public domain.

While Prince William is set to become a rescue pilot, Prince Harry is undergoing Army Air Corps training with a view to flying AAC attack helicopters.  Harry’s training period could extend to up to 12 months, during which time he could fly the Gazelle, the Lynx or the Apache helicopters.

Quizzed on whether he considered it really possible that he would be permitted to serve this country as a front line member of the British armed forces, Prince William responded:

“In my mind, of course, you talk to everyone else and it's impossible.

“I still remain hopeful there's a chance.”