Flashback – August 2009

The crooks looking for easy pickings in Shropshire made an unfortunate choice, and will have had an unpleasant shock.

Because the would-be burglars targeted one of Britain's most protected properties – the home in the county of Prince William and Prince Harry.

Police confirmed a criminal pair had tried to burgle the secluded residence of the princes in a bungled raid and were later arrested.

The men were cautioned for conspiracy to break into the home of the royal brothers who at the time were learning to fly at RAF Shawbury.

The raiders seem to have had no idea who was living at the home and mistook it for a soft target. They were swiftly stopped by the princes' armed security within moments of sneaking into the grounds, which were patrolled around the clock.

It was not revealed for obvious security reasons exactly where it all happened, but they are known to have shared a cottage at Sansaw not far away from the base.

And during their time in Shropshire William was visited not only by his then girlfriend – now wife – Kate Middleton, but also by his father Prince Charles and stepmother the Duchess of Cornwall.

The exact date of the attempted burglary was not given, although the incident was reported at the end of August 2009.

Neither of the brothers was thought to have been in at the time, but both were told what had happened.

Prince William, then aged 27, had been living at the property since January when he began training as a helicopter pilot. Prince Harry, 24, had joined him in April when his training began.

During their training they were known as "William Wales" and "Harry Wales" and RAF top brass stressed that they were treated just the same as everybody else.

Their time at the Shropshire base was a key phase of their flying careers, with further training needed after they left, to hone their skills.

Although in more recent times the brothers are said to have had a falling out, as they stood side by side in a joint June photocall during their Shawbury training there was plenty of jokey brotherly joshing.

"It's the first and last time we will be living together," Harry told one reporter.

William said: "I cook for him and feed him basically every day. He does do a bit of washing up and leaves most of it in the sink and then I have to wash it up... He snores a lot as well."

Harry, who had confided being worried about the exams element to the course, said: "He's definitely got more brains than me, we established that from school, but I'm much better hands-on."

Harry was already a combat veteran, having served on the front line in Afghanistan, where he was posted to Helmand province in December 2007, and had a ground role in directing air strikes.

However, he was pulled out 10 weeks later after a US website leaked details of his posting.

Harry was reported in October of 2009 to have left RAF Shawbury on completion of his course, and was keen to go back to Afghanistan, which he duly did later in the role as pilot of an Apache attack helicopter.

During his second period in the combat zone he was known as Captain Wales, rather than Prince Harry, and later told how he enjoyed being able to be "one of the guys" on operations rather than being gawped at as a royal.

Unlike Harry, brother William did not take his skills to war.

William successfully completed advanced helicopter flying training at the Defence Helicopter Flying School at Shawbury, graduating on January 15, 2010, in a ceremony at which his father, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, was the reviewing officer.

A proud Kate Middleton was also there to watch Charles present his son with his graduation certificate.

Flight Lieutenant Wales had completed the flying aspects of the course in December, including around 80 hours of training on the Griffin HT1 helicopter.

His training included advanced handling, night flying, emergency handling and tactical and formation flying.

During his time at RAF Shawbury he clocked up around 40 hours of flying time in the air on his own.

He was to go on to become a search and rescue helicopter pilot, based at RAF Valley on Anglesey. The island became during that period the home of William and his new bride Kate.