WORLDS APART

As the Prince of Wales carves out a unique new role, the gulf between William and his estranged brother is wider than ever

- EMILY NASH

Reporting for duty in a role once earmarked for his younger brother, the Prince of Wales made a lighthearted joke about spending time with family being a "mixed bag."

Dashing in a combat uniform and beret, William was speaking to soldiers as colonel-in-chief of the Army Air Corps on his first visit to Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk since taking on the title last year.

The position is one that royal insiders once believed would fall to Prince Harry when his father became King. The Duke of Sussex would have been a natural fit for the job with his former unit - at the airbase where he had trained as an Apache pilot from 2011 - if he had not left royal duties behind for a new life in the U.S.

Instead, it has fallen to Prince William to step up. Luckily, it's a labour of love. The heir to the throne - a trained soldier himself and former RAF air ambulance pilot - was grinning from ear to ear as he observed drills, toured the facilities and even served up bacon rolls for military families before flying home in a Wildcat helicopter.

Quizzing servicemen about the pace of life and how often they see their loved ones, the future King appeared to give a nod to Harry's distance from the Royal Family. “Some of them might not want to see you that much,” he joked. “It’s a mixed bag.”

Although his comments pertained to the ups and downs of military life, they couldn't have been more apropos given the way the day unfolded. William's outing coincided with his niece Princess Lilibet's fourth birthday, which was marked by an unprecedented flurry of social media posts by the Duchess of Sussex.