King Charles gives his son William the position of colonel of the Army Air Corps

Listen to the audio version of the article

It had already been announced in August 2023, in non-“suspicious” times, following the accession to the throne of King Charles . But the handover of an important military position to his son, Prince William, on Monday 13 May perhaps takes on a different meaning today also in light of the health conditions of the British monarch.

The ceremony

In particular, Charles presented William with the title of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps, a position that the 75-year-old monarch held for 32 years. In front of an Apache helicopter and under the eyes of service personnel at the Army Flying Museum, in the south of England, King Charles said of his son – a former search and rescue helicopter pilot for the British Royal Air Force – that «he is really a great driver.” The ceremony also marked a rare joint appearance for the couple as the king accelerates his return to public duties following his cancer diagnosis.

The return to work

The visit was Carlo’s last commitment since he returned to work at the end of April, almost 3 months following that Buckingham Palace had announced that he was being treated for an unspecified type of cancer. William, 41, also took a break from official commitments for several weeks in March and April this year, choosing to spend time with his wife and care for her following her Princess Kate had revealed that she was undergoing preventive chemotherapy for cancer (last Friday William declared that his wife “is fine”).

Carlo’s “farewell”.

During the handover ceremony, King Charles also said he was saying goodbye with “sadness” but that the Army Air Corps would go from “strength to strength” under his son. “Take care of yourselves – underlined King Charles – and I can’t tell you how proud it has made me to have been involved with you all this time”. Soon following receiving the commission from his father, Prince William spent some time with the Corps, viewing the training and equipment and listening to the soldiers.