Prince George is growing up, and his parents couldn’t be prouder. The 11-year-old future king reportedly just reached a major milestone that follows royal tradition, and his parents Prince William and Kate Middleton were right there to cheer him on.
The Waleses took their eldest son to the White Waltham Airfield in Maidenhead, England, last week, where he took his very first flying lesson, according to The Sun. An onlooker said, “He loved it. It’s the right time to start.”
Prince George was reportedly in the air for an hour, where the Prince and Princess of Wales watched him and hung out on the ground. “The Royal Family has a proud tradition of flying and it looks like George is next in line,” a source told the outlet, adding, “His parents watched George take flight from the safety of the ground but he flew with an instructor and loved it.”
I can’t imagine how nerve-wracking it would be to watch your pre-teen fly without you, but apparently, all three were completely “relaxed” at the lesson.
Apparently, Prince George has wanted to fly for a while. At a garden party at Buckingham Palace in May, Prince William told the chaplain of the U.K’s Royal Air Force that George is a “potential pilot in the making,” per Us Weekly. (Even as a child, Prince George like flying. When he was 3, his mom said George was “obsessed with planes and wanted to become an air cadet.”)
Both Prince George’s dad and his uncle Prince Harry were pilots during their military service. Prince William serving three years as a search and rescue pilot with the Royal Air Force and later becoming an air ambulance pilot, and Prince Harry served as an Apache helicopter co-pilot and gunner during his second tour in Afghanistan. Additionally, Harry and William’s grandfather, the late Prince Philip, also loved piloting aircraft and began his flight training at White Waltham as well, back in 1952.
Flying is part of Middleton’s side as well. Princess Kate’s dad Michael Middleton studied to become a pilot before working as a flight dispatcher for British Airways, and her mom Carole Middleton was a flight attendant for British Airways, per The Sun.
Kate and Will probably wouldn’t have been able to stop George from wanting to fly even if they wanted to!
Before you go, check out all the times Prince George showed he’ll be a great king one day.
