Prince Williams leaves air ambulance service which deeply influenced his mental health work

Prince William will complete his last shift as an air ambulance pilot on Thursday before returning to his full time job as a royal, bringing to an end a spell which has had a profound influence on his life.

The Duke of Cambridge joined the East Anglian Air Ambulance service in March 2015, after serving for nearly five years as a helicopter pilot with the RAF's Search and Rescue Force, and began piloting his first operational missions in July that year.

Since then he has carried out dozens of call-outs alongside his colleagues, attending road accidents, rescues and suicide attempts and landing his helicopter in residential gardens, carparks, beaches and roadsides across the region.

The prince revealed last year that his first ‘call-out’ as an air ambulance pilot was to the suicide of a young man, a job that led him to think deeply about the pressures on individuals.

It was this kind of event which shaped William and his wife Catherine’s commitment to highlighting the growing problem of mental health and led them to set up the charity Heads Together.

Prince William, who was based at Cambridge Airport, said he had been “staggered” to discover that suicide was the biggest killer of men under the age of 45.

“In some of my charity work I have come across issues like this before, and coupled with my air ambulance work where my first job was a male suicide, I realised starkly how big a problem we have in this country,” he said. “'It was really close to me on that first day and one of the guys told me on average there are five attempted suicides a day.”

In statement issued by Kensington Palace earlier this year the Prince William said: "It has been a huge privilege to fly with the East Anglian Air Ambulance. Following on from my time in the military, I have had experiences in this job I will carry with me for the rest of my life, and that will add a valuable perspective to my Royal work for decades to come.”

Last September the prince contrasted his "exciting and challenging" job as an air ambulance pilot with the solitary nature of his work as a member of the Royal family.

He described with pride his role in helping to rescue a teenager involved in a fatal road traffic accident which killed the boy's uncle and left him suffering multiple cuts and fractures in October 2015.

The teenager, named only as Jack, went on to make a full recovery after suffering a fractured pelvis and several broken ribs.

Prince William said at the time: "Having seen how bad he was and seeing where he is now, that does make you realise that this, and the stuff the team do, is really crucial."