SUPPORT OUR JOURNALISM: Please consider donating to keep our website running and free for all - thank you!

Prince & Princess of Wales

Is the reason behind “workshy” Prince William his air ambulance job?

Prince William has recently come under fire being called “lazy” and “workshy” because he has only carried out two royal engagements so far in 2016, this being on top of his part-time job as an air ambulance pilot.

In defence of the future king, Kensington Palace sources have said the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has rules on rest periods, therefore William is not allowed to do any type of work on his off days.

However, the CAA has come back saying that those claims are untrue and that pilots are free to do what they wish on their rest days, including holding another paying job, as long as they aren’t flying an aircraft.

In 2015, The Duke of Cambridge made 87 public appearances in the U.K and 35 overseas which many are comparing to the 94-year-old Duke of Edinburgh who made 128 more than his grandson.

On average, William works 80 hours a month as a pilot for East Anglian Air Ambulance on a four days on, four days off rota, where pilots work about 8.5 hours per shift. A full-time pilot works around 120-130 hours per month, which would put the prince in at two-thirds of their time.

A royal source said that William has a restricted number of royal engagements that he can carry out because “there are mandatory rest days enforced by the CAA, when you’re not meant to go off and do other work because it’s not rest”.

A spokesman for the CAA said that the palace staff are “confused”, saying: “It’s true that you can only work a certain number of hours in any given period, but to suggest that pilots can’t do anything else on some rest days is totally unenforceable.

“When they are having rest days their time is their own, and they can do what they want, including carrying out royal duties.

“We check pilots’ shift patterns and the Duke is fully complying with CAA rules within the rota he is working, so his days off are his own.”

He added that CAA rules state that pilots cannot fly more than 800 hours in a 12-month period.

Kensington Palace responded noting that William’s diary had to include enough rest time between his roles as a pilot and as a senior member of the Royal Family.

A Palace spokesperson said: “The Duke is incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to carry out his skilled work with the East Anglian Air Ambulance. It is a great opportunity to connect directly with the community and he considers it very rewarding to be part of a team that provides such a valuable, and often life-saving, public service.”

Despite the rumours that some of his colleagues at East Anglian Air Ambulance have complained that he does not work enough, a spokesman person for the charity said that Prince William is “very much part of the team” and was doing “a very important job” at its annual meeting this past Saturday.

Personally, I feel getting real world experience is an important part of Prince William becoming king and he has lots of time until his chance at sovereign.  What are your thoughts, do you think Prince William is “workshy”? Let us know in the comments.

 

13 Comments

Comments are closed.