At an engagement during his last day in Cape Town, South Africa, Prince William He recalled his time as a search and rescue helicopter pilot.

On November 7, the Prince of Wales, 42, met volunteers working for the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI), hearing about their life-saving work and asking them what inspired them to get involved. According The mirrorBefore getting into a lifeboat, the future king asked how rough the water was and, putting on a life jacket, joked that maybe he should wear more gear so he wouldn’t get wet.

“Nice windy day today!” he joked. “How are the seas today? It’s pretty choppy!

As he jumped into the water in the lifeboat, the outlet reported that, after being asked if he had ever done search and rescue work, he said, “I miss this life. Any opportunity to come back, I will take it.”

Prince William trained as a search and rescue helicopter pilot at RAF Valley in Anglesey, North Wales, from 2010 to 2013 and then worked as a pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance from March 2015 to July 2017.

Also on November 7, Prince William had the opportunity to mingle with sympathizers gathered to receive it. “I love cape town“he said, according to The mirror. “I’ve had the most incredible week here. I’ve really enjoyed it. I don’t want to go!

After arriving in South Africa on 4 November, the Prince of Wales hosted the fourth Earthshot Award ceremony on 6 November, with four days of engagements before his departure on 7 November.

“My children would love to be here, and so would Catherine,” William said during a ride on his wife. Kate Middleton and his three children.

Elsewhere in the day, he revealed that he was trying to teach his three children. Prince George11, princess charlotte9, and Prince Louis6, on high tides. “We are trying to teach children to understand the currents,” the prince said. “The problem with tears is that you don’t know where they’re going to appear.”

He also spoke about the importance of swimming lessons, saying: “Considering the UK is an island, we should all know how to swim. “It’s a life skill that could save your life one day.”

In 2009, Prince William joined C Flight, 22 Squadron as Lieutenant Wales and was a search and rescue pilot for three years. During that time, he participated in 156 search and rescue operations, a routine operational deployment to the Falkland Islands and qualified as an Operational Captain, according to his official royal biography.

He left his operational duties in the Armed Forces in September 2013, just two months after the birth of his eldest son, Prince George. He later retrained as an air ambulance pilot and worked for East Anglian Air Ambulance from 2015 to 2017.

Although I may miss the work, it wasn’t always easy.

During a conversation in 2021 about Apple Fitness+ Time to walkspoke about his own mental health issues while doing the work.

“The moment I started helicopter training, I realized it was better than anything else. It was one of those things that I immediately accepted and thought, ‘This is really cool.’ I really enjoy it,” William said.

During his work, the prince faced “difficult situations,” including “seeing patients and families torn apart almost daily” and encountering “some things in life that you really don’t want to see.”

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It was his work in search and rescue as an air ambulance helicopter pilot that inspired him to focus on supporting mental health and wellbeing as a tenet of his actual work. “We know that mental health has long been taboo and stigmatized around the world. And it still is,” he said on the show. “I would like to think that in the United Kingdom and the United States there is a lot more talk about it and it is opening up. But there is still a deep-rooted fear of understanding it. And we all need to go through a process of understanding why, rather than just giving in to those feelings and saying, ‘Listen, it’s me.’ I’m the problem.’ Which is not. “It’s not really you.”

“And you’re not alone, and that’s okay. It’s about what you do next. It’s about having that boldness, that openness, and that strength to say, “It’s going to be a long journey.” It’s not going to be easy, but I’m going to get there,’” he added.

To that end, upon concluding his trip to South Africa on November 7, Prince William participated in an emotional and candid interview in which he admitted that 2024 was “brutal” and “The most difficult year of my life.”