Prince William and Kate Middleton Don't Use Helicopters as Much Now Because the Queen Was "Uncomfortable" With It, Apparently
They were flying from Anmer Hall to Kensington Palace a lot.
Apparently, Prince William and Kate Middleton aren't flying in helicopters from Kensington Palace to Anmer Hall as much these days, and the Queen may have had something to do with it.
According to royal commentator Richard Palmer, there was the Firm's general "unhappiness" at the Cambridges' back and forth journeys on a chopper, but this was also exacerbated by the release of the royal spending report last week.
"I mean, I think they've been curtailed with [flying in a helicopter] a little bit," Palmer told Express.
"I think the Queen felt, certainty let it be known, that she felt uncomfortable about the entire family travelling by helicopter."
This is partly because heirs to the throne shouldn't travel together, per a well-established royal rule, in case there should be an accident.
Commenting on this element of it, Palmer said, "For whatever reason, the Queen let it be known that she was worried about the Cambridges traveling as a family by helicoper because of the possibilty of a crash."
This could potentially mean the "third, fourth, fifth in line to throne being wiped out in the crash," the expert explained. Prince George is currently third in line, Princess Charlotte fourth, and Prince Louis fifth. Bit macabre, but OK.
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Elsewhere, Palmer said, "I think there was partly a bit more going on behind the scenes.
"I think there was a little bit of official unhappiness about the amount of time that the Cambridges were spending traveling between Anmer Hall in Norfolk and Kensington Palace, their London residence, using helicopters.
"People in the Cambridges' camp would say actually that didn't happen very often at all.
"Other people seemed to imply that it was happening a bit more than the Queen wanted it to happen."
The Queen has a bit of a history with not loving to see Prince William on a chopper. The Duke of Cambridge is a trained helicopter pilot, and previously served in the Royal Air Force. Back in 2021, a source told The Sun, "Her Majesty has told close friends and courtiers that she would like William to stop flying himself, particularly in bad weather, as helicopters are not the safest form of transport. It keeps the Queen awake at night and she is understandably very worried."
I think we would all agree that there's no sense in worrying the Queen unnecessarily.
Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.