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Read Prince William's letter to colleagues as he takes final flight as an air ambulance pilot

Prince William has left the air ambulance (Picture: PA)
Prince William has left the air ambulance (Picture: PA)

The Duke of Cambridge is set to begin his last shift as an air ambulance pilot before he moves onto public life as a full-time member of the royal family.

In January, William announced that he would be ending his career with the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA), having clocked up more than two years experience in flying medical crews to emergencies from a specialised base at Cambridge Airport.

A statement issued at the time by Kensington Palace confirmed that William and Kate would be increasing their official duties on behalf of the Queen, along with charity work, which would mean spending more time in London.

Since their announcement, the Duke of Edinburgh has also announced his retirement from public duties – which means that all members of the monarchy are likely to carry out more engagements in support of the Queen.

He has spoken of his ‘profound respect’ for the team (Picture: PA)
He has spoken of his ‘profound respect’ for the team (Picture: PA)

In a letter to staff, he described his ‘profound respect’ for their work.

‘As I arrive for work at East Anglian Air Ambulance this evening, my last shift with this incredible team, I wanted to say thank you to my colleagues, team mates and the people of East Anglia who I have been so proud to serve’ he wrote.

‘Over the past two years I have met people from across the region who were in the most desperate of circumstances. As part of the team, I have been invited into people’s homes to share moments of extreme emotion, from relief that we have given someone a fighting chance, to profound grief.

‘I have watched as incredibly skilled doctors and paramedics have saved people’s lives. These experiences have instilled in me a profound respect for the men and women who serve in our emergency services, which I hope to continue to champion even as I leave the profession. I am hugely grateful for having had this experience.’

Patrick Peak, the chief executive of EAAA, said: ‘William has been an integral part of the team for the past two years. He is not only a fantastic pilot, but a much loved and valued member of the crew; he will be truly missed by everyone at EAAA.

He’ll now devote himself to royal life (Picture: PA)
He’ll now devote himself to royal life (Picture: PA)

‘As one would expect, there has been a lot of excitement surrounding William and his work with the charity. To us, he has simply been another hard-working member of the team; one of eleven highly respected pilots who help us to save hundreds of lives each year.’

The Duke and Duchess are now expected to spend more time at their Kensington Palace apartment, rather than their Norfolk home at Anmer Hall as four-year-old Prince George prepares to start school in September.

The final day of work will see William arriving for a night shift, while also attending the handover briefings from his day team as usual.

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He is then expected to join his team-mates at the helicopter he was flown over the last two years for a final group photo.

The Duke joined EAAA as a pilot in March 2015, and began piloting his first operational missions in July of that year after an initial period of training involving simulator, aircraft, and in-flight skills training.

Throughout his service, he has been based at Cambridge Airport – providing emergency medical services alongside specialist doctors, critical care paramedics and pilots across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

READ PRINCE WILLIAM’S LETTER TO THE EAST ANGLIAN AIR AMBULANCE IN FULL

‘As I arrive for work at East Anglian Air Ambulance this evening, my last shift with this incredible team, I wanted to say thank you to my colleagues, team mates and the people of East Anglia who I have been so proud to serve.

Over the past two years I have met people from across the region who were in the most desperate of circumstances. As part of the team, I have been invited into people’s homes to share moments of extreme emotion, from relief that we have given someone a fighting chance, to profound grief.

I have watched as incredibly skilled doctors and paramedics have saved people’s lives. These experiences have instilled in me a profound respect for the men and women who serve in our emergency services, which I hope to continue to champion even as I leave the profession. I am hugely grateful for having had this experience.

From the moment I joined, when that phone rang at the base for the first time, it was clear that I was a fellow professional, a pilot with a job to do – in such a team there can be no other option, but still I am grateful to my colleagues for accepting me so readily.

At EAAA, our helicopters are airborne within four minutes of getting a call and can reach patients anywhere in the region within 25 minutes.

We land in residential gardens, school playing fields, beaches, roadsides, anywhere it is safe to do so. As a pilot, my job is to get the medical team to the patient as quickly and safely as possible, so they can give treatment as soon as possible after injury.

We are sent to only one per cent of ambulance call outs, where having a trauma team and getting the hospital to the patient quickly, can mean the difference between life and death.

I have watched our medical team perform surgery on a patient within minutes of jumping off the helicopter – their level of skill is astounding.

As a pilot at the scene, we will sometimes try and help by co-ordinating the area around the medical team, carrying their kit and doing whatever it takes to ensure they can focus on their work.

It is a joint effort, and everyone plays his or her role with great professionalism and dedication.

As a team, we travel to some very daunting incidents and we have been though some incredibly tough times together, witnessing some appalling tragedies.

One of the first call outs I made was to a young man who had taken his own life; it was an incredibly tough day and had a profound effect on all of us, not least in my determination now to draw attention to this issue.

Another rescue that sticks in my mind was to a young man who was involved in a road accident. His uncle in the car with him sadly didn’t survive, and I was sure that from what we were faced with he wouldn’t either – but thanks to the skills of our medical team he is alive today.

We were first on scene and in such circumstances we all had to pitch in to fight to save the young man’s life. It is days like this, when you know you have made a difference, that give you the determination to keep going.

have seen at first-hand how our doctors, paramedics, police, fire and emergency services teams work together with such skill and professionalism in stressful situations.

I have also been very fortunate to work with an organisation which recognises the stress its staff deals with and puts their welfare as such a high priority.

You need to be physically and mentally fit to do this job properly and so we are encouraged to talk through the things we have seen, to share the trauma within the team.

I now know though that there are things that cannot be unseen and experiences that our first responders deal with on a daily basis that they will carry with them for life.

I have the utmost respect for the job that our emergency services carry out, without fuss, on a daily basis.

Having had the great good fortune to experience serving the East Anglian Air Ambulance, I would like to finally say thank you to the community who fund, support and keep the air ambulance flying.

As I hang up my flight suit, I am proud to have served with such an incredible team of people, who save lives across the region every day.’