Prince George celebrated his twelfth birthday yesterday, and with the last year before his teens comes a big change to the young royal’s life: it seems he can no longer travel in the same airplane or helicopter as his royal father, Prince William. This is a customary precaution among the royals to avoid two heirs being present in the event of a fatal accident.
Speaking on A Right Royal Podcast in 2023, former royal pilot Graham Laurie said: “Interestingly, we flew all four: the Prince [Charles], the Princess [Diana], Prince William and Prince Harry, up until Prince William was 12 years old. After that, he had to have a separate aircraft, and we could only fly all four together when they were young with the written permission of Her Majesty.”
Since the age of 12, William himself has not flown with his father aboard a plane or helicopter. Now that George has turned 12 too, it’s likely that the Waleses will be following the same rule — although they haven’t confirmed it, and they are known for changing and modernising the rules where they see fit. A Kensington Palace spokesman told the Daily Mail: “We don’t comment on travel,” while a friend of William’s said of his flying a helicopter with all his children aboard: “William is a skilled pilot and loves flying but George must travel separately now.”
If William and Princess Kate do decide to make George fly separately from now on, it’s sure to come as a relief to King Charles. “One recent source of disagreement is William’s stubborn refusal to take his father’s advice on safeguarding the succession,” royal author Robert Jobson previously wrote. “Earlier this year, the King had raised concerns with his son about the wisdom of William using his helicopter to fly his entire family around the country.”
George turned 12 on 22nd July, with his mum and dad sharing an adorable photo of him looking all grown up – and more and more like his father – on Instagram. They captioned it simply: “Happy 12th Birthday to Prince George!”
The royals also shared a lovely video of George playing in the garden with his siblings, captioning it: “12 today!” Aw!