A prince, a duke, a husband… now he’s a captain

The Duke of Cambridge has qualified as an operational search and rescue captain.

Prince William – known as Flight Lieutenant Wales in the military – has previously only co-piloted RAF Sea King helicopters, but will now be able to command operations. He completed two days of ground and air-based tests to achieve the qualification, following two years of flying experience.

The Prince joined C Flight, 22 Squadron at RAF Valley in Anglesey in September 2010.

Officer Commanding 22 Squadron, Wing Commander Mark Dunlop, said: “Flt Lt Wales demonstrated the required standards needed for the award of Operation Captaincy.

“Due to the nature of search and rescue operations, the required standards are always set at a very high level. Operational Captaincy carries the overarching responsibility for the safety of the aircraft, its crew and any casualties.”

The Prince, whose rank remains Flight Lieutenant despite his new qualification, finished his tests on 29 May.

The mock rescue scenarios saw him take part in an airborne search for a yacht, a search for two missing kayakers, a search for people in water and extinguishing a simulated fire on a large survey vessel.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said William’s peers are also being assessed, adding that his tests had been carried out in “the normal time scale”.

William was told that he passed during a debrief on the day of the airborne exercises and can act as an operational captain from now on, the spokesman added. He said a “wide spectrum of skills” had to be shown to gain the qualification, including those involved for the practical tests.

Earlier this year, William spent more than six weeks flying search and rescue missions in the Falklands. The deployment to the remote South Atlantic outcrop came at a time of growing tensions between Britain and Argentina over the islands.