Britain's Prince William is to get back behind the controls of a helicopter and become an air ambulance pilot, his office announced on Thursday. William, the Duke of Cambridge, is to be based in at Cambridge airport, responding to emergencies ranging from road traffic accidents to heart attacks.
If he passes all the required tests, the 32-year-old should take up a full-time role next year with the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA), a charity which provides emergency helicopter cover across eastern England. In September last year, the prince, second in line to the throne, completed a three-year stint as a Royal Air Force search-and-rescue helicopter pilot in north-west Wales.
"The duke is greatly excited by this opportunity," a Kensington Palace spokesman said. "He regards his work with the RAF search-and-rescue force as having been an exceptional privilege, and is hugely motivated by the idea of being able to continue to help people in difficult and challenging situations." In his new job, William, his wife Kate and their son Prince George, who turned one last month, are expected to split their time between their newly refurbished Kensington Palace apartment in London and Anmer Hall, a country house on Queen Elizabeth II's private Sandringham estate in Norfolk, eastern England.
The new role will be his main job but his rota will take into account his royal duties in Britain and abroad. Road traffic crashes make up the majority of the air ambulance's call-outs but they also have to respond to sporting injuries and other accidents.
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