It’s been five years since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made the choice to walk away from royal life, but the remaining members of The Firm are still picking up their slack. This week, Prince William officially took over a role with the military that was intended for Harry someday. Considering how passionately Harry feels about his time in the Army Air Force, there’s no doubt this must have been a tough loss for the Duke of Sussex – no matter how much he loves his low-key life in California.
Prince William visited the regiments for the first time this week.
William is now the colonel-in-chief of the Army Air Crops, and on Wednesday, he paid a visit to the regiments in Wattisham, Suffolk, for the very first time since assuming the role.
According to People, it was previously assumed this was a title that would belong to Harry someday – after all, this is his former regiment – but of course, all of that changed when he decided he no longer wanted to work as a senior royal.
He may have even made a comment about his brother during the visit.
In one of the more casual moments of William’s visit, he chatted with soldiers who were on a water break during their combat training. The Daily Mail reported that at one point while asking the soldiers how things were going, William said, “Families okay? See you enough? Some of them might not want to see you that much. It’s a mixed bag sometimes.”
With the current feud between William and Harry, could that have been a dig at his little brother?
Both William and Harry served in the military.
William spent three years serving for the Royal Air Force’s Search and Rescue Force as a pilot between 2010 and 2013 before retraining and spending two years as an Air Ambulance pilot before he retired from military service for good in 2017.
For his part, Harry began training to be an Army Air Corps pilot in 2009 and served two tours in Afghanistan before stepping back in 2015.
Harry was stripped of his military titles when he walked away from royal life.
Among the privileges that Harry lost when he decided he no longer wanted to be a working royal were his military titles, which was reportedly devastating for him.
In the 2020 book Finding Freedom, a source told authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand that it was “a tough pill to swallow and the one that has been most painful to Meghan witness him go through.”
The insider added, “It’s the one that made Harry emotional.”
Check out our Meghan Markle page for all the latest news about Meghan, Prince Harry, and their growing family.
