Prince in action with other ’copter pilots

Press, 29 May 1982, Page 8

Prince in action with other ’copter pilots

NZPA London Prince Andrew is flying' operational missions like his fellow helicopter pilots in the Falkland Islands task force, a British Defence Ministry spokesman has said. His family’s concern for the Prince, the first immediate member of the Royal Family to be on the front lines in 70 years, and brusque comments from the Defence Ministry on . his activities, reflect the ' dilemma the situation creates for Britain. Prince Andrew's commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Ralph WykesSneyd, has said the 22-year-Old Prince, co-pilot of an anti-submarine and troopcarrying Sea King helicopter, gets no special treatment. "Prince Andrew is serving as an operational pilot with a squadron on the (carrier) HMS Invincible,” a Defence Ministry spokesman said. “He is not treated differently from any other serviceman.”

Buckingham Palace acknowledged that Prince Andrew’s mother, the Queen, shares the concerns of other mothers of servicemen in the task force. “The Queen is naturally concerned for the whole task force.” a Palace spokesman. Warwick Hutchings said, “and as a mother she is particularly concerned for the fate of her son. as any other mother would be." Buckingham Palace said the Queen is “kept informed” about the task force and receives and sends letters to Sub-Lieutenant Andrew. But Mr Hutchings said: “I’m pretty sure there are no special telephone calls." "Perhaps in times when the monarchy was not subject to constant questioning and self-justification, he would have been removed quietly from the firing line whatever his wishes to the contrary,” noted the conservative “Daily Express."

It is generally agreed that today, when 18-year-old sons of working-class parents are dying as cooks and gunners on shattered warships' for starting pay of £BB a week, a safe job for Andrew would not have been acceptable. The I.Bm (6ft) Prince Andrew joined the Royal Navy in 1979. following his father the Duke of Edinburgh. his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten, and his older brother. Prince Charles. His grandfather, the late King George VI, a midshipman in the World War I Battle of Jutland in 1916. was the last immediate member of the Royal Family to see action. Prince Charles., who is 33, rose to commander before quitting the Navy in 1976. "He’s all right," Prince Charles said of Prince Andrew this week. "Just flying very busily. I don’t think he’s ever done so much flying in his life.”