King Charles allowed 'darling boy' Prince Harry to break strict Sandringham rule and caused a slew of complaints
Prince Harry was allowed to do something many others were not
Although Prince Harry and King Charles’s relationship is known to be strained these days, there was a time where King Charles actually allowed one of Sandringham’s strictest rules to be broken by his youngest son.
King Charles allowed Prince Harry to break a major rule
In 2007, King Charles, then-prince, decided to let Prince Harry break a major rule at the royal family’s country escape, Sandringham.
Now the home of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Charles and his fellow royal family members have been known to head to Sandringham to get away from the hustle and bustle of life in London.
So when Prince Harry was going through training as a Forward Air Controller (FAC), King Charles made the very surprising decision to allow Harry to louden things up…
As per his bombshell memoir Spare, according to Hello, Prince Harry was undergoing training to master 28 combat controls.
Prince Harry’s Forward Air Controller training at Sandringham
Therefore, he needed the space and privacy to buckle down and put his new skills to practise.
He chose the “remote” Sandringham estate as he knew his cover would not be blown there.
At the time, King Charles, then known as the Prince of Wales, was said to still be wrapped up in his “newlywed phase” with Camilla, two years on from their 2005 nuptials.
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This meant that Harry was mostly given space to get to work and test things out.
However, King Charles did decide to visit when he saw a Typhoon aircraft “doing low passes along the seawall.”
Prince Harry’s story about Sandringham rule-break
Harry wrote: “He found me in the marshes, on a quad bike, talking to a Typhoon some miles off. While I waited for the Typhoon to appear in the sky overhead we had a quick chat. He said he could see how good I was getting at this new job. Above all, he could see how hard I was working at it, and that delighted him.”
Harry claimed that Charles “loved” witnessing the “ungodly speeds” of the low-flying planes. Meanwhile, their neighbours were said to be very unhappy.
The prince said in his memoir: “I mentioned that the good citizens of Wolferton didn’t share his enthusiasm. A ten-thousand-kilo jet roaring just over their tiled roofs didn’t exactly cause jubilation. RAF Marham had received dozens of complaints. Sandringham was supposed to be a no-fly zone. All complaints were told: Such is war.”
King Charles reportedly replied: “Yes, yes, darling boy, back to work.”
Rules at Sandringham
The no-fly rule is a known policy at Sandringham. And it is amongst a slew of others.
Queen Elizabeth II reportedly had a “no cats policy” at the estate, in a bid to protect local wildlife like pheasants.
Dogs were considered on a “case-by-case” basis.
Barbecues are also off-limits to protect the environment.
“There are plenty of areas and spaces to picnic in the Royal Parkland. BBQs are not permitted anywhere on the Estate,” the FAQ section on the residence website explains.
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