Prince William is doing his last shift with East Anglian Air Ambulance today. Photo / Getty Images
Prince William is doing his last shift with East Anglian Air Ambulance today. Photo / Getty Images
By Iain Burns
Prince William will begin his last shift as a helicopter pilot for the East Anglian Air Ambulance later today.
The Duke of Cambridge was photographed on one of his last days with the charity at Cambridge Airport on Tuesday while handing over to his colleagues on the night shift, reported the Daily Mail.
After his final flight with the EAAA - where he has worked since March 2015 - the future king is expected to spend more time in London so he can take on more duties, including royal visits and charity work.
During his time with the EAAA, William has co-piloted its helicopter and flown missions in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire.
Working as an air ambulance pilot has had a profound effect on William, appearing to influence him as a person and also his public work as a member of the royal family.
When he announced in January he would be leaving his job with the EAAA, William said: "I have had experiences in this job I will carry with me for the rest of my life."
The duke, who previously served as an RAF search and rescue pilot, said the events he had lived through would "add a valuable perspective to my royal work for decades to come".
Coming into contact with a suicide victim in one of his first call-outs in July 2015 may have partly inspired his interest in mental health.
He told journalists attending the Guild of Health Writers conference in February: "I got interested in mental health for another reason. One that was related to my work as an air ambulance pilot. It was suicide, a subject that is so often hidden."
That interest later developed into the Heads Together mental health campaign successfully run by William, Kate and Prince Harry earlier this year, encouraging the public to speak about their psychological problems.
During his first week William and his crewmates were also called out to Felixstowe in Suffolk to a man in his 50s who had suffered a cardiac arrest. The crew airlifted him to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital for further treatment.
In an online BBC documentary posted last year William spoke about the most difficult emergency he had attended at the time.
He said: "I think my most challenging one was to do with burns. There's one job in particular that was really quite nasty and I don't know how the medical crew dealt with it either because they came to the rescue and did everything they (could) and sadly the casualty was beyond help."
During his time in the job - which paid a salary of £40,000 ($69,688) that William gave back to the charity - the former RAF pilot also flew to an emergency with a military theme.
Prince William pilots his air ambulance into land, 2016. Photo / Getty Images
In March last year he found himself cradling the head of former Royal Marine Jim Schembri.
The ex-serviceman, now a tree surgeon, had been crushed by a branch while working in a garden in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
Mr Schembri told the Daily Express at the time: "When they loaded me into the helicopter I said, 'William had better not be flying this' and he said: 'I've been holding your head for the last half an hour.' I was totally shocked."
William has tried to keep a low profile while out working with crewmates but has been captured on camera phones landing his helicopter, and walking back to the aircraft after the medical crew have finished work.
One of his more unusual call-outs saw the duke using his balloon skills to create a puppet from a surgical glove to calm toddler Luke Sawyer who had suffered an allergic reaction in Essex in March 2016.
His mother Donna told Hello! magazine at the time: "We thought it was a really touching thing for Prince William to do as it really took his mind off everything that was going on."
Throughout his service with the EAAA, William has been based out of Cambridge Airport, as part of a team including specialist doctors, critical care paramedics and pilots.
While he joined the charity in March 2015, he only began his first missions in July after completing an initial period of job-specific training involving simulator, aircraft and in-flight skills training.
EAAA helicopters can reach patients anywhere in the region within 25 minutes - and last year carried out 2,361 missions.
The charity provides rapid, effective treatment as soon as possible after injury, and transport patients directly to hospital if required.
In a statement issued by Kensington Palace earlier this year the Duke of Cambridge said: "It has been a huge privilege to fly with the East Anglian Air Ambulance.
"I would like to thank the people of East Anglia for being so supportive of my role and for letting me get on with the job when they have seen me in the community or at our region's hospitals.
"I would especially like to thank all of my colleagues at EAAA, Babcock, and Cambridge Airport for their friendship and support. I have loved being part of a team of professional, talented people that save lives every day.
Prince William on his first day. Photo / Getty Images
"My admiration for our country's medical and emergency services community could not be any stronger."
During his time with the charity, the Duke worked as part of a six-strong team on a roster of day and night shifts as he responded to emergencies ranging from road accidents to heart attacks.
In September 2015 Prince William flew on a mission to HMP Highpoint South in Suffolk, where Myra Hyndley served the last three years of her life sentence.
A couple of months later, in November, he flew in to help at a real life drama in the village where ITV's fictional crime series Grantchester is filmed.
The Duke of Cambridge flew to assist a man found with serious injuries near a pub in the Cambridgeshire village.
In January 2016 he returned to work at the Air Ambulance's new purpose-built operations base in Cambridge, which cost around a quarter of a million pounds.
William and Kate are reportedly hoping to expand their own Royal Foundation charity and want to focus more on causes like mental health.
The Duke and Duchess, along with Prince Harry, have lent their support to helping people battle mental health issues and launched the Heads Together campaign last year.
They will move from their primary resident at Amner Hall in Norfolk to an apartment in Kensington Palace in London with their two children.
It comes after the Queen announced she would be stepping down as the patron of 25 organisations in December last year.
WILLIAM'S SERVICE
• The Prince graduated from Sandhurst military academy in December 2006 and was commissioned into the Blues and Royals, a regiment of the Household Cavalry
• In 2008, William received his RAF wings from his father, the Prince of Wales
• He was then transferred from the Army to the RAF and made Flight Lieutenant Wales
• Two years later, in 2010, he joined the RAF's Search and Rescue Force
