WHY I’M LEAVING
Prince William’s next move
“He just rolled up his sleeves and got on with his job” —Schembri on William
After tree surgeon James Schembri was knocked unconscious by a falling branch in eastern England last year, he awoke to find his head being cradled by a member of an air-ambulance crew. Though he had suffered a dislocated hip and shattered shoulder in the accident, the former infantryman, 38, was strong enough to playfully banter with the man who was preparing to help load him into the helicopter.
“It dawned on me that Prince William flew for the air ambulance,” recalls Schembri, “and I turned around and said, ‘ William had better not be flying this.’ He said, ‘I’ve been holding your head for the last 30 minutes!’ ”
Flying under the radar is no easy feat when you are the future King of England, but William, 35, has done just that for more than two years. As “Captain Wales” he has quietly worked as a pilot for East Anglian Air Ambulance, making him the first immediate heir to the throne to hold a civilian job. Since July 2015 he has been donating his estimated $75,000 salary to charity and commuting to the base two hours’ round trip from the home he shares in Norfolk with wife Kate and their children, George, 4, and Charlotte, 2. After hundreds of missions—including moments of “profound grief,” as he wrote in a July 27 column for the Eastern Daily Press— William is now closing the door on his cockpit career, wrapping his final night shift on July 28. “As a team, we travel to some very daunting incidents and we have been through some incredibly tough times together, witnessing some appalling tragedies,” he wrote. “One of the first call-outs I made was to a young man who had committed suicide. It was an incredibly tough day and had a profound effect on all of us.”
It’s no coincidence, insiders suggest, that William’s move came days before the last official engagement by Prince Philip, 96. “It is transition and a very important one,” says royal historian Robert Lacey.
What’s more, it may be the first step towards a larger power shift in the royal family, now that Queen Elizabeth has passed her 91st birthday. “Philip retiring does raise the question of the Queen doing the same,” adds Lacey. It also sets the stage for William and Kate to settle their young family at London’s Kensington Palace. The couple increased their public duties in 2016 and will continue to do so, says a royal source. As William told the BBC when his beloved granny turned 90 last year, “When the Queen decides she’s going to hand down more responsibilities, I’ll be the first person to accept them.”