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Prince William has been made Colonel-in-Chief of the UK's Army Air Corps by his father, King Charles, in a move some observers say is "a slap in the face" of Prince Harry who served in the regiment.
Charles, who'd held the ceremonial position for 32 years, formally handed over the title to his eldest son in their first joint engagement since 2022.
The king, who arrived by helicopter at the Army Aviation Centre in Hampshire, said the moment was "tinged with great sadness after 32 years of knowing you all," and spoke of his "immense admiration" for the work of the Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"I do hope you'll go from strength to strength in the future with the Prince of Wales as your new Colonel-in-Chief. The great thing is he's a very good pilot indeed. So that's encouraging," the monarch said.
In his speech he made no reference to Harry, who served two combat tours of duty in Afghanistan, flying Apache helicopters with the corps' 662 Squadron.
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William is also the Royal Honorary Air Commodore at Royal Air Force (RAF) Valley in Wales. He spent three years as a search and rescue pilot at the RAF base in Anglesey where he took part in 156 missions, saving 149 people.
After Monday's hand-over ceremony, William carried out his first official engagement with the corps. He received a briefing on its work and inspected the training and operational aircrafts.
He later changed into a flight suit, took the controls of an Apache helicopter, and flew off the base.
Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said it was "quite feasible" that if Harry hadn't quit life as a working royal (a decision which saw him stripped of his honorary military appointments) he might have been given the Colonel-in-Chief title.
"Had Harry still been around, he might well have had more appointments going his way."
Royal expert Katie Nicholl added that she thinks “the timing does feel poignant."
"And, yes, I think it's probably another slap in the face for Prince Harry, and yet another reminder that he's very much out rather than in when it comes to the royal family."
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Harry was in England last week to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, the international sporting event he founded in 2014 for military personnel wounded in action.
He and his father during his visit. Harry's spokesman said the king's diary had been too full. After his visit to England the Duke of Sussex, along with his wife, Meghan, visited Nigeria before returning home to Los Angeles.
SOURCES: NYPOST.COM, ETONLINE.COM, BBC.COM, PEOPLE.COM
