History that goes back to 1916 flight HM’s call for unity ahead of bombshell interview

THE Royal Family’s association with aviation dates back more than a century, when the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) made the first flight piloted by a British royal in 1916.

His brother Prince Albert, later George VI and father of the Queen, joined the Royal Air Force and learned to fly in an Avro 504J specially adapted for him at Croydon in 1919.

However, a medical condition prevented him from flying solo. He continued to fly as a co-pilot and the Royal Family began to accumulate a fleet of aircraft which became known unofficially as the Royal Flight.

The King’s Flight formally came into existence in 1936 at RAF Hendon, home today of the RAF Museum London. It was disbanded during the Second World War for operational reasons and its aircraft were used to drop supplies and agents over occupied Europe.

The King’s Flight reformed in 1946 at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire. As The Queen’s Flight from 1952, the unit operated a variety of aircraft for transporting the Royal Family and for training its members to qualify as pilots.

In 1995, The Queen’s Flight was absorbed into 32 (The Royal) Squadron at RAF Northolt.

THE Queen is to preach the virtue of ‘coming together’ just hours before Meghan’s bombshell interview is aired.

In a rare address tomorrow night as part of a Commonwealth Day television special, the monarch – supported by six senior royals – will pay tribute to the way in which communities across the ‘family of nations’ have come together during the pandemic.

While her appearance is long-planned, the timing, hours before Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey is broadcast in the US, is undeniably awkward. It means the royals face an unprecedented global maelstrom caused by Meghan’s decision to go public.

The Queen’s two-hour television special, on BBC One in the UK, will be broadcast in nearly 70 countries around the world.

Harry and Meghan were forced to give up their roles as Commonwealth ambassadors as a result of their decision to quit. Harry had been president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, while Meghan was the vice-president. The duchess was also patron of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. The Queen had believed that the couple would appeal to younger people in the ‘family of nations’ and had high hopes for their work.

Last year’s service – which normally takes place on the second Monday in March, at the start of Commonwealth week – was also the couple’s final official engagement together as senior working royals.

UP TO 80,000 women who were underpaid their state pensions will not get a penny of the £3billion set aside to rectify historical admin blunders.

Around 200,000 wives, widows and over-80s will be sent letters to say they are due an average of £13,500 after the Government found systemic failures to automatically award pension pay rises stretching back nearly 30 years.

But married women who were entitled to the pension pay rise before March 2008 will not be told if they have missed out – or get the money back.

This is because it was their duty to claim the extra pension before the law changed to make it the Government’s responsibility to award it automatically.

Former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb estimates this group comprises between 70,000 and 80,000 women.

The underpayments scandal relates to the old state pensions system, and it affects women who went into retirement before April 2016.

They are entitled to a state pension worth 60 per cent of their husband’s basic rate, if this is bigger than a pension based on their own contributions.

Have you been underpaid a state pension? Email moneymail@dailymail.co.uk