Prince William meets personnel at HMNB Clyde

Prince William meets personnel at HMNB Clyde

Six days after HMS Astute ignominiously ran aground off the Isle of Skye, Prince William provided a much-needed morale boost to the Royal Navy’s submariners by presenting long-service awards at the Faslane naval base on the Clyde.

Prince William, looking every inch a dashing officer and a gentleman, saluted the sailors responsible for maintaining Britain’s nuclear deterrent at a naval base. The future King, wearing the uniform of his role as Commodore-in-Chief of Submarines and his Garter Star medal, presented gold deterrent pins to honour sailors who, by completing 20 or more submarine patrols, have each notched up as many as eight years under the sea.

William, who trained on submarines as part of a two-month attachment to the Navy in 2008, evoked memories of his father’s naval career, during which he commanded the minehunter HMS Bronington.

Chief Petty Officer Stephen Irvine, 43, was one of 22 officers presented with a gold pin by the Prince. He said: “Prince William asked me how long I’d been at sea and whether I’d enjoyed it. I was fairly honest with him and told him there are ups and downs, but on the whole I’ve enjoyed it. When he was presenting us with our badge, I felt really privileged to be the one of the first to get the award, and from our future king.”

The Prince of Wales joked about his son’s work as an RAF search and rescue pilot during a lunch in London with Welsh sheep farmers. He said: “Bearing in mind the sheep’s unerring desire to commit suicide, it really is a miracle anything ever arrives on anyone’s plate. I spend my life trying to extract sheep stuck in fences or upside down somewhere or other, or marooned on rock ledges or at the bottom of cliffs as the tide comes in.

“I dare say at this moment my eldest son may well be rescuing one stuck halfway up a mountain – in between other damsels in distress.”


Article: Telegraph | The Express
Pictures: Zimbio | Getty Images | Rex Features

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