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King Charles handed over a senior military role to his son Prince Williammarking a rare joint appearance for the pair as the king steps up his return to public duties following his cancer diagnosis.
Charles presented William with the rank of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps – a unit in which his brother Harry served in Afghanistan until 2014 – in front of service staff at the Army Flight Museum in southern England on Monday.
It’s a position the 75-year-old monarch has held for 32 years.
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“He’s really a very good pilot,” Charles said of his son, a former search-and-rescue helicopter pilot for Britain’s Royal Air Force.
The visit was Charles’ last engagement since he returned to work at the end of April, almost three months after Buckingham Palace announced he was being treated for an unspecified type of cancer.
William, 41, had also taken time off from work for several weeks in March and April this year, choosing to spend time with and care for his wife after she revealed she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy for cancer.
He said Friday that she was “doing well.”
At the handover ceremony, Charles said he was saying goodbye with “sadness” but the Army Air Corps would go from “strength to strength” under his son.
“Take care of yourself and I can’t tell you how proud it has made me to be associated with you all this time,” Charles said.
William spent some time with the Corps, looking at training and equipment and listening to soldiers later on Monday.
“Too busy” for Harry
The transfer of the title was announced last August after Charles ascended the throne, but the ceremony is coming just days after the royal was said to be ‘too busy’ to see Harry when he visits the UK last week.
Harry, 39, returned to the UK to attend a number of events to mark the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, the international sporting event he founded for servicemen wounded in combat.
There had been speculation in the press that the couple would meet again on his latest trip, but a spokesman for the Duke of Sussex said that would not happen.
“In response to the many inquiries and ongoing speculation as to whether the Duke will meet his father while in the UK this week, unfortunately this will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full schedule,” the spokesman said.
“The Duke is of course aware of his father’s diary of engagements and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”
The palace said it would not comment on matters relating to Harry.
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