Prince William has opened up about his experiences as an air ambulance pilot in a rare interview with the BBC, and revealed that the job has “sad, dark moments”.
The Duke of Cambridge, who signed a two-year contract with East Anglian Air Ambulance in March 2015, spoke in an online documentary chronicling his work.
The 34-year-old looked relaxed during the interview, as he sat in the open side door of an air ambulance with Captain James Pusey and spoke of how much he enjoys his role.
“I look forward to coming here every day, whether it’s 5:30am or going to bed at 2am,” said William. “The shift work is exciting…And the fact that I love working in a team. That’s something my other job doesn’t necessarily do.”
Adding: “When I put my air ambulance hat on, and I come here and fly, I’m one of the team.”
But, despite his obvious enthusiasm for the role, the Prince admitted that the job can have its challenging moments and spoke of the most difficult emergency he has attended so far.
“I think my most challenging one was to do with burns,” said William. “There’s one job in particular that was really quite nasty and I don’t know how the medical crew dealt with it either because they came to the rescue and did everything they [could] and sadly the casualty was beyond help.”
“Yeah, there are some very sad, dark moments and you know we talk about it a lot. That’s the best way of dealing with some of the situations is you talk.”
The interview did have some light-hearted moments, too, and we were let in on a glimpse of William’s role as a father.
The Duke, who will be travelling to Canada with his wife, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge and two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte this weekend, shared a joke with the captain, who said: “He’s very good with advice and parenthood – in terms of good tips.” William laughed and replied, “Dishing out parent advice”.
The documentary has been released to coincide with National Air Ambulance Week.
