00:00:59
ITN
Wills' Afghan visit slammed
Wills' Afghan visit slammed
Prince William's secret trip to Afghanistan has been condemned as a public relations exercise.The Prince, 25, met service personnel at Kandahar airfield for three hours on Monday before returning to the UK later that day. The official purpose of the trip was for William to familiarise himself with RAF operations in a combat zone.But, royal watchers and British troops suggested the trip was a public relations exercise to "cover up" recent controversy over the Prince being allowed to fly military helicopters to a stag do and his girlfriend's family home.During the exercise William flew a C-17 Globemaster military transport plane which left RAF Brize Norton on Sunday, arriving in Afghanistan the next day. He took the controls of the aircraft under supervision for a short time.William spent three hours chatting to personnel at Kandahar before flying on to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The whole trip lasted around 30 hours.It has also emerged that William flew back from his brief visit with the body of Trooper Robert Pearson, 22, who was killed in action on April 21, when his vehicle hit a mine.Trooper Pearson, from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, of the Queen's Royal Lancers, was killed when the device detonated while he was protecting a resupply convoy returning to Camp Bastion - Britain's main base in war-ravaged Helmand Province - from the town of Gereshk.Once back in the UK, the Prince privately met members of the soldier's family.Clarence House said he was "honoured" to be a member of the air crew that repatriated Trooper Pearson's body.Soldiers who use the popular military website British Army Rumour Service gave the Prince a mixed reaction, in contrast to the thumbs-up his brother Prince Harry received after spending ten weeks on the front line in Helmand Province.Many posters praised William, with one suggesting that he would not have wanted to be overshadowed by his brother Prince Harry's ten-week service in Afghanistan.However, one user thought the trip "smelt like a PR operation" and another questioned its cost.On April 3, William flew a Chinook helicopter from RAF Odiham in Hampshire to girlfriend Kate Middleton's family home 16 miles away in Bucklebury, Berkshire. Eight days later he piloted a Chinook to London, picked up brother Harry and then travelled to the Isle of Wight for a stag do.The Stop The War coalition described the visit as a "shameful waste of public money" and accused the Ministry of Defence of using troops in Afghanistan to try to "cleanse" the Prince's image.Former royal protection officer Ken Wharfe said William would have been in no real danger during his visit to Afghanistan.He said: "There is an element of risk but there would be no way security officials would allow it to happen... It would be pretty well sterile while he was there." He added: "I'm slightly sceptical about this. I think the cynics amongst us will say it's an attempt to cover up the Chinook jollies."Publicist Max Clifford said the Afghanistan trip had been "a good public relations exercise", adding: "Certainly this will get them some good headlines, I imagine."William, known in the RAF as Flying Officer Wales, is coming to the end of a four-month attachment with the RAF which has taught him about the service's ethos, traditions and military role as he prepares to head the Armed Forces one day.Last month he was presented with his pilot's "wings" by Charles at a graduation ceremony. In May, he will undertake a number of official engagements followed by some leave before beginning an attachment with the Royal Navy at the beginning of June.The secondments are part of a "familiarisation" exercise to help the Prince understand all the Armed Forces, which he will one day head.
ITN | April 30, 2008
