Prince William may postpone becoming a full-time royal and spend much of the next decade in the military – partly to avoid accusations of shortchanging taxpayers of £400,000.

William is acutely aware that if he leaves the RAF in 2012 after his planned three-year tour of duty as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot, he will have only repaid about half the £800,000 cost of training him. Until now William’s advisers have expected him leave the RAF after just one tour of duty and revert to an earlier plan to start full-time royal duties like his father Prince Charles.

“It is too early to know what Prince William’s plans are after he has served a tour of duty with the search-and-rescue force,” a St James’s Palace spokesman said. “Many options will be open to him at the end of his tour.”

The new thinking at St James’s and MoD HQ will raise speculation about whether a prolonged career in the military will delay wedding plans for William and Kate Middleton, his girlfriend of seven years.  Friends, however, believe that although Kate enjoys partying in London, the couple will relish life as an Armed Forces couple living initially in the country near RAF search-and-rescue airfields and later perhaps near other bases. Such a lifestyle, with only a small number of official royal engagements in her first few years, would allow Kate a gentle introduction to life as a future Queen.

Article: The Express

Prince William Flies Home from Ski Holiday Despite Strike

Prince William flew home with a Jet2 plane

After a week-long ski holiday with girlfriend Kate Middleton and her family (previous articles, Hello! Mag scans), Prince William jetted home on Sunday using strike-hit British Airways – enraging union firebrands hell-bent on grounding him.

Wills  joined tens of thousands who defiantly boarded jets – some of the flights using specially- chartered planes. The Prince and 200 passengers flew home from Switzerland on an aircraft supplied by Jet2 – complete with cabin crew to replace those on strike.  He enjoyed a fuss-free 3-hour flight to London’s Heathrow.

The Unite union was left desperate for a propaganda coup to bolster its three-day walkout by cabin crew, which started on Saturday and continues today. Its biggest hope was to strand Wills in Geneva after his ski holiday with girlfriend Kate Middleton, 28.

A source said of the Prince’s flight: “It’s a major kick in the teeth for the unions. They would have loved to have embarrassed BA by leaving William struggling.”

Article: The Sun

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