Prince Charles and the paras

[davo141]

watching a news report about Charlsey in Iraq..........he was dressed in smart desert DPM but with a 'cherry' beret....with wings aswel

how why when does our charlsey get to wear these?

as far as i remember he never attempted p-coy let alone pass it!

cheers, davo

[df2inaus]

As I understand, HRH Prince Charles is entitled to wear the full uniform because he is Colonel In Chief of the Parachute Regiment.

I believe Charles also did undergo Parachute training and has jumped many times, but I could be wrong. Tab?

[got1]

Charlie didn't do P Coy but did do the parachute course and got his wings.
If I remember rightly one of them was a water jump which was coverd by
our friends in green.
I was talking to a marine about this because in them days it used to have Royal Marines plastered all over there Gemini's, I said it would be a bit embarasing if something happend as the drop had been covered by tv. He replied that they had Parachute Regiment painted on the bottoms of the boats

[Tab]

Charles did do the eight jumps for his wings, but was not required to do the P Course as he was not going to be a serving soldier. Well at least he did do the jumps.

[gunner75]

Did Charles do his jumps course before or after Edward 'monged' it with his Marine training?

[got1]

gunner75,
I'm almost certain it was before.

[Pasha]

Highgrove Press Office state that he and Prince Andrew actually attended the parachute course together in 1978. I believe Andrew also got his Commando dagger. A friend, who is an ex-Para, tells me that when he was at Prince Charles Barracks there used to be a picture of HRH doing the Log run outside the Armoury. Another ex-Para acquaintance wrote to me saying

As an addendum, the Duke of Rothesay, Charles' title here in God's own kingdom, on becoming Regimental Boss wore the issue beret which everyone knows was designed to be an overcooked chapatti.

A couple of NCOs from our mortar platoon wrote to Kensington Palace asking his hat size. On receipt of the reply, they purchased a beret of the correct size, shaped it and sent it to him, for which they received a letter of thanks and assurance that this would be the beret worn in future.

When Rothesay received his Wings we had a banner hung in the Pearson Club (soldiers' canteen) announcing:
REPENT ALL YE CRAPHATS - OUR NEXT KING IS AIRBORNE!

Makes you wonder if all future Colonels in Chief will put themselves through that arduous course.
Regards!

Pasha

[Tab]

What can one say, crap hats watch out your next king is a paratrooper.

[gash-hand]

What can one say, crap hats watch out your next king is a paratrooper.

No wonder the queens not giving up

[Gary_amsterdam]

how would members of the royal familly be treated during P-COY AACC ? Would they get shouted and cursed like the rest or would they get 'special treatement'

[Ploggers]

I guess that the staff would go out of their way to make sure that there was no favouritism or otherwise.

Was anyone here in training with Edward?

[Sticky Blue]

Of course they'd get special treatment...

"Roundthatwallandbacktomeasfastasyoucan... and you sir"

When Eddy joined the Corps he was exactly the same as his batchmates and did everything with them as they did it.


I suppose it is handy having your own bodyguard to help pack your bergan on a crash move though!

[arte]

Charles did do the eight jumps for his wings, but was not required to do the P Course as he was not going to be a serving soldier. Well at least he did do the jumps.

I was in the Para's at the time Prince Charles was doing his jumps there was talk going around he did not complete his jump quota it was 7 jumps not 8 two balloon jumps one jump with no equipment one jump with the old type weapons container with a leg pin two jumps with the new type of weapons container last jump was a night jump I checked with the news the only jumps i seen were he did two solo jumps out of a Andover no news regarding the other jumps ( 64 para's exiting a Hercules C130 in 16 seconds their would be a high risk to himself To date no matter how i try to find this information i find no record of Prince Charles doing 7 jumps ?