Prince William to receive his wings today

[Lady63]

It's events like this that I so wish it was Diana and not Camilla who was there.  Imho she has no right to be there.  I know that as his step mother she does but still it rankles just that little bit and I'm imho if Diana has been around and Charles had still married Camilla, it would have been Diana who went and not Camilla.

Regards,
Lady63

[wannabe]

A big "Four-Oh" to Prince William!  I wonder what his call sign will be.

His allocated (MOD/RAF) code name is "Golden Osprey".

(some pics of an Osprey)
http://www.surfbirds.com/media/gallery_photos/20050918052859.jpg
http://images.publicradio.org/content/2009/04/09/20090409_osprey_33.jpg
http://www.spectrus.co.uk/osprey/images/pendant.jpg

And his buddy buddy matey nickname is "Billy the Fish".  

[Natalie Bryant]

here the video:   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8462144.stm

Thanks Karla for posting!  Congrats to William.    Anyone else notice in the beginning of the video, when Kate is rubbing and patting his back, wills looks back at the camera and gives off a look.    the cameras will always[/i be there Wills, they aren't going anywhere.

[wannabe]

http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/prince-receives-wings-from-father/3356240005/?icid=VIDURVNWS06

[Ursula]

Loved the POW's speech and humorous too 

Charles paid special tribute to the family, friends and girlfriends present at the ceremony for their 'unwavering support' of the students.
He said: 'I know only too well how complicated it can be having a relative or a close friend in the forces, because they are rarely, if ever, around.

'But today is a day, I think, of great pride for all of the parents, not to mention the girlfriends.

'We all know how hard our sons have worked in between all the other activities that we don't know about.'
He wished the graduates 'every possible good fortune' and advised them to cultivate a 'sixth sense'.
He said: 'Some of you no doubt will find yourselves in Afghanistan where the ground troops will put great faith in you.

'Others no doubt among you will be plucking people from danger, maybe sheep in distress, not to mention endless ladies with conveniently sprained ankles on awkward mountain sides across the country.
'Whatever the case, you will all be in charge of an amazingly expensive piece of kit which a lot of people won't want you to break, so I can only suggest that you cultivate that sixth sense, if you know what I mean, which can so often keep you out of trouble.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1243336/Prince-William-awarded-wings.html#ixzz0ch94qtuv

I liked Charles' speech too.  It was nice to see him give Kate a royal "nod".   

It's events like this that I so wish it was Diana and not Camilla who was there.  Imho she has no right to be there.  I know that as his step mother she does but still it rankles just that little bit and I'm imho if Diana has been around and Charles had still married Camilla, it would have been Diana who went and not Camilla.

 
You took the words right out of my mouth!   

[Hale]

Dear Richard Kay and Geoffrey Levy,

I'm flattered you read my posts and use my comments in your articles.  However,  I would appreciate if you could publish more 'behind the scenes' articles of the royal Family.  The Daily Mail used to do all of that in the 80's and then it just dropped doing those kind of articles.  Do you not think it is time to dust those old articles and refresh them?  Never forget there is a whole new generation out there who would not be familiar with your articles of old.

In anticipation...........thank you.

Yours sincerely,  

Hale  

[MapleLeaf]

  Hello all.

Kate Middleton was not on the list of guests for today. I give my word to all of you, she was not expected. Not only that but she received some very harsh words from a Senior Figure today.
 

Karagiosis, in November/December 2008 you made emphatic claims about William and Kate's relationship that never came to pass and were never proven to be correct.  In 2009 you again made claims about William and Kate that were never proven or substantiated.  Now it's 2010, and once again you post unproven and unsubstantiated claims about Kate Middleton not being expected at William's Wings ceremony and being given 'harsh words' from a 'Senior Figure'.  Yeah, right.  Who, exactly, is supposed to believe your claims, and why?

I doubt if I'm the only person who noticed that none of the news articles about William's Wings ceremony even bothered to mention a guest list at all.  And I'm sure everyone saw Kate Middleton sitting next to the Heir to the Heir Apparent to the throne in the auditorium of a building located on a Royal Air Force secured military base, and that Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were both present, as were several extremely high ranking military officials.  

Lucy is absolutely right; there is no way Kate Middleton would've been allowed to sit next to William under such circumstances if she wasn't supposed to be there.  At least 2 of the 10 articles I read said that William brought Kate to the Wings ceremony as his guest.  And to top it off, Charles mentioned girlfriends in his speech.  

And as wannbe said, Richard Palmer stated in a tweet on 11 January that the event organisers expected Kate Middleton to attend, but they hadn't received the confirmation yet:

http://twitter.com/RoyalReporter    - scroll down to 11 Jan. at 2:15 pm.

Here are some large, clear photos of Wills and Kate at the Wings ceremony earlier today:

http://www.ok.co.uk/dynamic/3/451x567/17773_1
http://www.ok.co.uk/dynamic/3/451x567/17773_2
http://www.ok.co.uk/dynamic/3/451x567/17773_3
http://www.ok.co.uk/dynamic/3/451x567/17773_4
http://www.ok.co.uk/dynamic/3/451x567/17773_5

In the photos above we can't really see Wills' face, but his body language doesn't convey any sort of upset with Kate at all.  He's leaning towards her and his arm is up against hers.  The video links provided by Lucy and Karla64 ( to both of you) show Kate briefly rubbing William's back reassuringly when he turned around and saw the cameras.  There are more pics here:

http://picture.belga.be/belgapicture/editorial/all/quick-search.html?page=1

That show them smiling at each other.  Those brief moments show that in most ways they're just like any other couple.  It's just plain silly to try to pretend that William didn't want Kate there or that he didn't expect her to be there.

[Miss Scarlett]

here the video:   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8462144.stm

Thanks Karla for posting!   Congrats to William.    Anyone else notice in the beginning of the video, when Kate is rubbing and patting his back, wills looks back at the camera and gives off a look.   the cameras will always[/i be there Wills, they aren't going anywhere.

I definitely noticed!  To me it looks like William notices the camera and says "bloody cameras" or something like that.  Then Kate trys to calm him down by saying "It's okay" ...I'm not the best lip reader, but that's what the conversation looked like to me.  Maybe someone better can help?  Her pat was sweet too because one can tell she's trying to reassure him and keep him calm.

I thought Charles was great.  His speech was quite funny, especially the part about conveniently sprained ankles.  Perhaps he's giving some girls out there ideas?    I'm glad he could be there to share that day with William.  It seemed quite special.

[wannabe]

I thought Charles was great.  His speech was quite funny, especially the part about conveniently sprained ankles.  Perhaps he's giving some girls out there ideas?

Yup, I see Miss Mystery in the Scottish mountains.

Commanding base: GO over
Golden Osprey: GO here over
Commanding base: GO at 7 hundred distressed female
Golden Osprey: Roger that over...and off he goes to finally rescue the tic toc tic toc fruit n nut.

[TortillaChips]

Completely off topic I know but with reference to the comments about Diana/Camilla - if Diana was there, she would have overshadowed the event/move on - sadly Diana isn't around anymore but she wasn't whiter than white/ Camilla is on the scene now and obviously gets on with Prince William/Prince William gets on with The DOC - if they can move on, why can't the British public.

BOT - Congratulations to Prince William and hope you had a wonderful day and lovely to see you so comfortable with the people around you.

[Jenee]

To allege that William's Kate has broken the law and entered a Military base illegally is an allegation ripe for prosecution. Just as it is to declare she has incurred the wrath of the Head of State.

So I guess it's really great that no one here said that... or even remotely hinted it!

[Stix Chix]

congrats to William!

where did Charles mention Kate in his speech?  the only reference to women i saw was over women intentionally getting themselves caught on a mountain in hopes of getting rescued by William.

Completely off topic I know but with reference to the comments about Diana/Camilla - if Diana was there, she would have overshadowed the event

well, it good thing Kate's presence didn't overshadow it then, huh?  speaking of which....is there going to be an issue about her photograph being taken there?

[Jenee]

He didn't really reference Kate, Stix, he said something about how parents and girlfriends must be proud. So I assume it was only men receiving wings today?

[wannabe]

^^part of Charle's speech

Charles paid special tribute to the family, friends and girlfriends present at the ceremony for their 'unwavering support' of the students.
He said: 'I know only too well how complicated it can be having a relative or a close friend in the forces, because they are rarely, if ever, around.

'But today is a day, I think, of great pride for all of the parents, not to mention the girlfriends.

[Stix Chix]

^ooo i thought you guys meant by name.

[kellyfan203]

Great video I found on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSjb_4tUrxM

[Natalie Bryant]

Great video I found on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSjb_4tUrxM

Thanks for posting kelly!     As soon as the reporter says, "keeping a low profile.."  Kate turns round and looks directly at the cameras  

[baybay3301]

I normally don't comment on this site, but I  decided to today. William been with Kate for 6yrs now. I'm no fan of Kate but I can and will say that she has put up with a lot being with. The thing I wonder is if he knows she the one and he want to be with her, what exactly is stopping him from marrying her. One thing I know is when a man loves a women I mean really loves a women there's nothing or no one can stop him from being and marrying that women. There's a big difference between loving someone and being in love with someone. Just like there's a big difference with loving someone and caring being comfortable with someone. William need to figure out how he really feels for her, I'm not saying he doesn't love, but what exactly does he feel for her. Love,trust, support, loyalty,honesty, understanding is some of the quality you find in friendships just like relationships.  I just can't for the life of me understand what's stopping him.

[Ursula]

Great video I found on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSjb_4tUrxM

Thank you for posting this!  

[wannabe]

He then arranged for Kate and the girlfriends of three fellow recruits to take a 15-minute flight in a Griffin Bell 412, the helicopter he trained in. Wills resisted the temptation to pilot the aircraft, but saw it off. And when it returned, he dutifully carried out the steps and opened the door.

Last night a royal source said: "Kate loved it. Wills organised the adventure as a surprise.

"It's the first time Kate has been in the helicopter William has spent the past year flying in." Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/royals/2810874/Kate-Middletons-pride-as-Wills-gets-heli-badge.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=Royals#ixzz0cjsgB0VS

[Ursula]

How romantic!   

[lisalisa88]

Karagiosis, it nice to see you're still around--not scared off because some don't like what you have to say.  Let's see, what was it that you said--oh yeah, a prince did breakup w/his girlfriend, not William, but Harry!!  And didn't William say Harry was his guinea pig--"to test the waters first".  It makes sense that it would be Harry to publicly breakup w/Chelsy, to see how the media would react.  After the '07 breakup, William would probably want to avoid any more "relationship embarrassment" so he & Kate remain friends.  From the video, they look more friendly than loving!  But one may never know, even if they do marry!  William's friends allegedly said he remains w/Kate because he's too lazy to look for someone else who he may have to train all over again to blend in w/the royals, lack of suitable & eligible women (they're getting married now, and the pool is drying up) and ,of course, Kate is very easy--no drama.  And last but not least, they're still not engaged, RIGHT?? 

[Lady63]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1243336/Prince-William-awarded-wings.html

...'Obviously, Prince Charles would have done the job quite well, but he would have been expected to bring Camilla,' says the friend.
'Australasia is a long way and she is a poor traveller.' '...

So we have now found out that Camilla is a 'poor traveller' wonder how that's going to effect any future tours, especially Down Under and NZ, if she's such a poor tourist.  And lord she won't like our summers and our winters will not be a good bet because that's when they have their holiday's.  Seems she married the wrong fellow as Charles does a lot of tours. 

As to the rest of the article, it would seem that William has learned well from how his mother was treated, especially by those with whom she confided in and when she did, was 'betrayed' by (in his eyes).  Seems not even the aides no what he's thinking.  Hope Kate does.  How sad, that if he really does love Kate, has not married her, this time in the service would have been very similar to that of his grandparents and as a couple without dependants and being a military wife myself, I think they would have really enjoyed the life.  Postings with kids and animals is just not as much fun                 as when it's just you and the hubby and the animals    .

Regards,
Lady63

[Lindelle]

Lady 63 I agree.

But I thought she was a good traveller.

She travelled everywhere to see Charles before they wed.......................... ............

[Ursula]

Lisalisa, maybe you and Karagiosis can get together and write the next best seller.     But the idea that the boys use tests to run their lives is fiction.

And I think William and Kate looked like a normal, loving couple in that video.  Did you expect her to sit in his lap!?     Funny, first they're accused of not touching, etc in public, yet when we see an example of a loving exchange, they're "just friends."  Okay.