Prince William to go to Falklands next year

Prince William is being deployed to the Falklands briefly early next year to serve with the RAF search and rescue helicopter service there, the Ministry of Defence has announced. The move, which may stir Argentinian sensitivities, coming as it does almost at the 30th anniversary of the Falklands war – which took place shortly before he was born – meets the prince's wish to be deployed like any other member of the armed services. His brother, Prince Harry, served briefly in a live war zone in Afghanistan under conditions of a strict media blackout three years ago. William will be based for six weeks at RAF Mount Pleasant, south of Port Stanley during February and March. The prince has been training at RAF Valley on Anglesey as a Sea King helicopter co-pilot, involved in rescue operations for those getting into difficulties in Snowdonia or off the coast. There are two such helicopters at the base. MoD sources have said it would be wrong on many levels to accede to Argentinian representations that the prince should not serve on the islands, whose sovereignty they continue to dispute, despite their defeat in the war in 1982.