Before he stepped down as a senior working royal, insiders thought Prince Harry—who trained as an Army Air Corps pilot in 2009—would become the future colonel-in-chief of his former regiment. Instead, the role was given to Prince William by The King, and on June 4, the Prince of Wales made his first official visit to the regiment in Wattisham, Suffolk.
During one conversation, Prince William appeared to make a rare reference to his family life amid his estrangement from brother Prince Harry. Per the Daily Mail, Prince William asked a group of soldiers, "Is the pace of life good at the moment?"
After one told him it was "a mixed bag," the Prince of Wales replied, "Families okay? See you enough? Some of them might not want to see you that much. It's a mixed bag sometimes."
The last time the brothers were publicly seen interacting was during a joint walkabout with Meghan Markle and Princess Kate after Queen Elizabeth died in 2022.
Prince Harry's military appointments were taken away when he stepped away from royal life, making it impossible for him to be made colonel-in-chief of his former regiment. King Charles—who served in the role for more than 30 years—officially passed the title down to Prince William in May 2024.
Prince William worked as a helicopter pilot for the RAF search and rescue team and East Anglian Air Ambulance before he become a senior working royal, and he wasted no time taking a wildcat helicopter up for a spin during his visit.
The prince chatted about helicopters with some of the soldiers' children, like 6-year-old Archie Foster and his 8-year-old sister, Ida. "Which do you like the most?" William asked. "The apache? You like the apache? Your dad does a very important job here."
As for Ida, she deemed her encounter with the future King, "amazing."
"I loved it. This is going to be the best thing of my whole entire life," she said. "I'm going to write it in a book."
