Prince William reportedly wants to return to air ambulance amid coronavirus pandemic

Prince William reportedly wants to return to the air ambulance service amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The 37-year-old royal spent two years as an air ambulance pilot before stepping down in 2017, and sources have claimed he is considering rejoining the service in order to ease the pressure on current National Health Service (NHS) staff during the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus.

A source told The Sun newspaper: “William has been seriously considering returning as an air ambulance pilot to help in the current pandemic.

“He knows the whole country is doing its bit and he wants to help. But it’s complicated as he was originally grounded from the job so that he could become a senior working royal. But William is very keen to do anything he can to help.

“There are all sorts of practicalities to overcome such as fitting in on shift patterns. But he’s in the right place now if he wants to do it.”

The news comes after William - who has Prince George, six, Princess Charlotte, four, and 21-month-old Prince Louis with his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge - was reported to have said he “misses” working with the NHS during a visit to 111 call-centre staff in Croydon, South London, earlier this month.

Tracy Pidgeon, 54, governance lead and call-handler, said: “He was asking about how busy we have been, and what shifts everybody was doing.

“We were saying everybody was working really hard. He misses the helicopter, being on the front line. He just said he misses it.”

William also became patron of the London Air Ambulance Charity earlier this month, and boss Garrett Emmerson said the royal would be “welcome” to join the service “any time”.

Garrett said: “As he knows well, we have an air ambulance service here in London.

“I know he would be welcome there any time.”