William and Harry - I'm puzzled.

Merlot I quite agree.

Have to say, I'm not a royalist but reckon I could better advise them!

We now have three royal princes faffing around - all of them into 'wildlife and conservation'.

Why not stay in the armed forces? (William & Harry)

The queen, who does a good job, could well live for at least another 10 years.

I would imagine that William, being born into a role, wants to put it off as long as possible and have a 'real' life while he can.
Harry on the other hand, is highly unlikely to get that role. He has been in the army for quite sometime and probably wants a change.
Lots of people work for charity or conservation as full time jobs. I would certainly like to if pay wasn't of prime consideration. Now that I am retired I do a lot of volunteering.
Given a choice of the armed forces, charity work or conservation, the armed forces would come last for me.
I am not in the least puzzled.

I think it unfair to call valuable work 'faffing about'.

Good on them I say.

My daughter and son in law work on Air Ambulances (in NZ) and they had to have intensive and lengthy training for the job even though they were both extremely experienced nurses already. I'm sure that piloting an Air Ambulance is far from being a 'jolly' and I admire Prince W for wanting to do something worthwhile that uses his previous experience. As for Prince H, he can afford to give his time and attention to charitable causes so I'm glad that he does.

I admire both the Princes, I think they are admirable young men and have/are serving this country well. How lucky for wildlife and conservation that Prince Harry is in a position to devote his energies to their preservation. Heaven knows these poor creatures need all the help they can get. His charity work is also very valuable, and to be greatly admired.
Like others here I fail to see that an air ambulance pilot is to be likened to a 'Jolly'!!!!!! and I admire Prince William enormously for doing a valuable worthwhile job helping and meeting real people instead of just doing royal walkabouts and opening umpteen fetes, being fawned over by sycophants, and leading a generally useless life.
These are two top notch Princes, and we should be proud of them.

Becoming an Air Ambulance pilot is a bit of a jolly, is it?
His grandmother drove an ambulance during the war, I think. I imagine she would encourage him to do this.
Strange choice of words, a jolly.
Cameron will be well pleased with Harry for choosing to do charity work; big society and all that. Apart from which it will save the worry of him being shot - unless he goes to somewhere like Syria, of course, but I do not think that will be allowed.

Wasn't Prince William an Air Ambulance pilot when he was in the Airforce? Then they were privatised.

I don't think being an air ambulance pilot is a 'jolly'. I expect between calls he has to polish maintain his chopper.

OK. I'll change bit of a jolly to hidden agenda.

They want to live at Anmer Hall instead of Kensington Palace despite millions being spent on their apartment and it will be interesting to see how much flying William actually does.

As I said in the OP, I usually support the Royal Family but I think Harry should stay in the Army and William should be more of a hands on Royal.

Did the Queen drive an ambulance during the war?

I thought she was a mechanic in the ATS.

That came out wrong.

jingl

She drove an ambulance. She probably did maintenance stuff too.

Wish I could fly an air ambulance. Very skilled work. Possibly jolly at times but not in the least puzzling if flying helicopters is what you've been trained to do and you like your job. Work is work and people who get to do what they enjoy are lucky. I don't mind if William is lucky that way.

Similarly Harry doing charity work. He will get masses of back up and support (and security). What's not to like of you're Harry?

They can't let Harry stay in the army any longer. He has already risked life and limb. They want him safe now. be odd if a lion got him

He flew an Air Sea Rescue helicopter. That's very far from being a jolly as well!

True!

Yes the air sea (and mountain) rescue job not easy I'm sure. I think they enjoyed the laid-back private life on Anglesey as well, away from the glare of the media. I have no idea why they would want to settle down to a lifetime of "official engagements" - listening to boring speeches, shaking hands with thousands of people etc. Why would they?

I apologise for my RAF euphamism.

I'm not ignoring the skilled role William undertakes or any other pilot for that matter.

euphemism

Air ambulance work sounds good - he doesn't want to finish up pressing the flesh and waiting for a parent to die for years on end like his father.

I think for some people whatever these two young men did would be viewed either with derision or scepticism! I think that they both want to do something worthwhile regardless of where they live, and for my money they're doing just that. Yes the Queen, both maintained and drove during the war. The king and Queen and their daughters stayed in London when they could easily have gone somewhere a lot safer i.e. America or Canada. For me the royal family are just fine.

They endorse charities worldwide and travel extensively for their causes. If they were to head a business with an income to provide for themselves, I wonder what that business would be? The Queen has a horse racing stud in Virginia US. Plus other international business investments (or so the tabloids inform us). Anglesey in Welsh Wales has to pay her whenever they take water from the coast in order to make Halen Mon sea salt. (Info courtesy of recent Radio 4 programme.) I note that P Charles no longer wants to be an arms dealer on behalf of the government. It does seem strange that this gentle, sensitive soul was given such an appointment. It really must conflict with his conscience. I would like to go to his Transylvanian village he has turned into a paying tourist resort with good ski-ing. But I would need to win the lottery in order to get ski lessons and pay travel costs.

you're right jess. He's a young feller. Of course he wants to follow his own way for now.