William prepares to earn his wings

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The young royal will don overalls and a helmet and take to the skies with an instructor to earn his wings just as the Prince of Wales did more than 35 years ago.

The training is part of a four-month attachment with the RAF to help William, 25, get to grips with the service's ethos, traditions and military role as he prepares to, one day, head the armed forces.

The prince, an officer with the Household Cavalry's Blues and Royals, begins his training on Monday with a class of around 11 students at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire.

He is a Second Lieutenant and a trained troop commander in charge of armoured Scimitar vehicles but during his placement will be known as Flying Officer William Wales - equivalent to his Army rank - and wear an RAF uniform.

Group Captain Nick Seward, Commandant of the Central Flying School (CFS) based at RAF Cranwell, stressed the prince would not be given any preferential treatment.

He said: "During his time with us, Flying Officer Wales will be realising a personal ambition to learn how to fly and this will be the beginning of a lifelong relationship with the Royal Air Force."

The senior officer, who leads the CFS which trains flying instructors and examiners, added: "Throughout his attachment, whilst also training alongside fellow officers, we are very keen to make sure that Flying Officer Wales will have the opportunity to meet airmen of all ranks to enable him to have as broad as possible idea of the RAF and how it differs from what he has seen in the Army.

William's first day with 1 Squadron of 1 Elementary Flying Training School will see him take the controls of a propeller driven Grob 115E light aircraft, known as the Tutor.

After a number of weeks, and if he completes the initial training, he will move to 1 Flying Training School at RAF Linton-on-Ouse in North Yorkshire where he will get to grips with the faster Tucano T1 plane and finally progress to RAF Shawbury in Shropshire to learn to fly the Squirrel helicopter.