Royals set up fund for wounded warriors helping medical science

YOUNG members of the Royal family have quietly funded a modern-day version of the famous Guinea Pig Club, continuing their legacy to “a new generation of wounded warriors” from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

The Royal Foundation, the charity of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Duke and Duchess of Sussex, gave a £15,000 seed fund for the launch of a new club for seriously injured members of the Armed Forces, and which now has 130 members.

While the CASEVAC Club has been running for more than a year, its royal links were revealed in the charity’s annual financial review.

“The CASEVAC Club is inspired by the Guinea Pig Club, a social club that began in 1941 as a support network for British aircrew and allies that had been severely injured in World War 2,” the report states. “The members had all undergone experimental reconstructive plastic surgery after receiving lifechanging burns and other injuries, which gave the club its name.

“The men and women in the CASEVAC Club will follow in their forebears’ example by maintaining a close-knit community through a lifetime of cohesion, during which they will assist in the advancement of medical science and help others experiencing traumatic injury.”

The club is receiving ongoing operational support from the Royal Foundation, with its report quoting the Duke of Sussex as saying: “Today’s CASEVAC Club will help us to once again recognise the success and most importantly, the pertinence of the Guinea Pig Club – far beyond the lives of its original members – and continue to build on a vital legacy that continues to benefit many generations to come.”

Financial aid assigned under the category “those who serve”, previously known as “military”, grew by 15 per cent to £1.3million this year, the report said.

The annual financial review, the first complete version since the Duchess of Sussex joined the Foundation, also details the money spent and earned from the Together cookbook, which features a foreword by the Duchess of Sussex and recipes from the Al Manaar kitchen, which supported the community following the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Sales of the Together cookbook, which now total 130,000 copies worldwide, have made £557,638 – held by the Royal Foundation to reinvest.