Oh, you silly royals. Always getting into mischief.
The British press is in a tizzy over Prince William’s choice of transportation to his cousin’s stag party- a Chinook helicopter that costs about $10,000 an hour to keep in the air. From CBC:
The 25-year-old prince took off in a Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter for a three-day party on the Isle of Wight sometime Friday, hours after receiving his wings from his father, Prince Charles.
As part of his 80-minute flight, he also stopped at the Woolwich Army barracks to pick up his brother, Prince Harry.
Media reports said that by flying, William avoided seven hours of driving in rush hour traffic and a ferry wait, allowing him to land at about 4 p.m. local time for a weekend of touring the island’s pubs and clubs.
The Chinook was flown back to its base by an RAF crew.
Awww. He even picked up his brother on the way. What a nice young man.
Predictably, people are a little peeved at what appears to be a gigantic waster of money. For their part, the Royal Air Force insists it was actually a training exercise, designed to replace a ‘flying over water module’ that the Prince missed.
All of this seems a little moot to me. As I understand monarchical systems of government, Prince William technically owns the damn helicopter. So he can damn well take it out and crash it into a mountain if he feels like it. A historical fact: if you put them on your money, they will take your expensive gadgets on holiday.
