Prince William to leave military service, will devote time to charities

(CNN) -- After more than seven and a half
years of military service, Prince William is
leaving the armed forces to focus on royal
duties and charity work, Kensington Palace
said Thursday.
William was a pilot with the Royal Air Force
Search and Rescue Force. Known to his RAF
comrades as Flight Lt. Wales, he had been
stationed at a search-and-rescue base on
the remote Welsh island of Anglesey since
2010, and lived there with Catherine, the
Duchess of Cambridge.
Prince William: I dream of Africa
In the next few weeks, the pair will move
into their official residence at Kensington
Palace. The palace statement said that
William is considering a "number of
options" for public service.
For now, he will focus on his
royal duties. He will also
expand on his conservation
work, dealing particularly with
endangered species.
Kensington Palace announced
he will become president of a
new collaboration among
seven environmental groups.
The group, United for Wildlife,
will focus on fighting the
illegal wildlife trade.
William will also focus on
charities that deal with
children, veterans and service
members.
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William's final search and
rescue duty was Tuesday. "He
and his crew had an
uneventful 24 hour shift," the
defense ministry said.
"Throughout his tour his
airmanship, often in the most
demanding of conditions, has
contributed directly to saving
lives in the mountains of
North Wales and from the
ravages of the Irish Sea. He has earned the
respect of all who have worked with him as
a highly professional and competent pilot,"
the ministry said.
Last year, he helped save a teenage girl
who was in danger of drowning off the
coast of Wales.
The 16-year-old girl was caught in a rip
current and rapidly losing strength. William,
the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, had
just landed a Sea King helicopter nearby,
after going out on a routine exercise, when
the alert was radioed through.
In less than a minute, he and the crew had
reached the scene and a paramedic was
winched down into the sea to assist the
exhausted girl, who had just gone under
water.
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There's no suggestion that William, 31,
would ever drop out of public life, but he
does crave normality. The prince gets some
of that from his role in the military where
he's treated as "one of the guys," but he
also gets it from Africa.
Dreaming of Africa is one way that William
escapes from the stresses he faces, he said.
"I regularly daydream," The Duke of
Cambridge reveals in the CNN
documentary, "Prince William's Passion:
New Hope, New Father," which airs later
this month.
"Africa is definitely one of the places I go
to ... I have hundreds of animals on my
iPhone. So if I am ever having quite a
stressful day ... you can put a buffalo on in
the background or a cricket," he says.
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