Prince William under fire for flying visit

Prince William has been come under fire after it emerged he landed an RAF chopper in his girlfriend Kate Middleton’s back garden.

Prince William has come under criticism after it came to light he’d landed a £10m RAF helicopter in his girlfriend Kate Middleton's back garden during an official military exercise. The Daily Mail says William came up with the idea himself, claiming there was a shortage of landing spots in Hampshire where he was based for part of his RAF attachment. After the plan was approved he flew to Miss Middleton's family home where he completed a circuit of the field at the back of her parents' million-pound house and practised landing and taking off in their paddock before returning to base. The paper estimates the operation cost around £30,000. Nick Harvey, a Liberal Democrat defence spokesman, told the Mail, “The prince will look back on this and realise it was a PR own goal. It's going to leave a lot of people wondering where the sense of priority lies if very serious helicopters are being made available for this sort of thing at a time when they are in such extreme need.” The paper’s sources said the head of the RAF, Air Chief Marshal Sir Glenn Torpy, “erupted” with rage at the “sheer stupidity” of the situation. The news of the flight follows stories that the prince was heavily criticised for using a Chinook helicopter to fly himself and his brother Harry to a stag weekend on the Isle of Wight.

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