The Princess of Wales jumped into the cockpit to try her hand at flying an RAF Typhoon jet as she marked a royal first on a special outing today.
Dressed in a business-like grey Bella Freud suit, Kate travelled to Lincolnshire to visit RAF Coningsby - marking her first visit to the base since she became its royal honorary air commodore more than two years ago. During her trip, the princess was shown an overview of the recent operations taken on by staff stationed there, including overseas operations to Poland in support of NATO forces in the region.
She also learned about the Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon aircraft and visited the Typhoon Future Synthetic Training Facility, which provides training environments for pilots. And keen to get a feel for the plane herself, she hopped into the cockpit of the flight simulator to try it out.
Typhoon aircraft provide round the clock protection for UK airspace responding to potential threats alongside other planes based at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.
Her visit also included dropping by a communal space called the 'Lounge' where Kate met with members of RAF Coningsby’s Welfare Team as well as those in the junior ranks at the base and the families of those serving at RAF Coningsby.
Kate became royal honorary air commodore of the RAF base in 2023 - and today marks her visit there to meet staff and get an overview of operations at the site.
In the summer of 2023, the King gave his daughter-in-law Kate a raft of new military affiliations - including the title of royal honorary air commodore of RAF Coningsby.
At the time she also became commodore-in-chief of the Fleet Air Arm and Colonel-in-Chief of the 1st Queen's Dragoon Guards.
This is in addition to her royal as Colonel of the Irish Guards and Royal Honorary Air Commodore of the Air Cadets. She is also sponsor of HMS Glasgow, which she visited with Prince William earlier this year.
