Part of his training was to learn to fly that vast workhorse of the skies, Chinook helicopters. Owing to circumstances beyond his control he missed one important training and proving flight, which was to fly the beast through the busy airlanes of London and then over open sea.

So, how’s this for the kind of initiative RAF pilots have been renowned for since the service was formed 100 years ago? On his weekend off William was booked to attend the stag party of his cousin, Peter Phillips on the Isle of Wight, which has an airfield regularly used by Chinook squadrons. Moreover, on his way down he needed to pick up his brother Prince Harry, who was stationed at Woolwich Barracks in London.

The heavy-lifting Chinook helicopter which can carry a small army

What if, he must have thought, I can reduce our carbon footprint by combining the training flight over London and open sea with the journey to the stag party? Done, said his RAF Commanders, who no doubt appreciate a bit of creative thinking in its officers.

So the flight took place. And the outcome?

Our boot-faced politicians and their supporters in the press are now attacking him for using taxpayers’ money for “a private jaunt” in an aircraft which is in short supply in Afghanistan.

This begs so many questions, I don’t know where to begin. First, for our soldiers to have Chinooks in Afghanistan, the pilots have to be trained in Britain, which requires the presence of Chinook helicopters, which, ipso facto, cannot simultaneously be in Afghanistan.

Furthermore, what William did after the successful training flight is neither here nor there, since it was his weekend off.

But, this being Britain, cries of “privilege” are to be heard all around, not least in Parliament from the ranks of Cromwellian puritans on the backbenches. Parliament, incidentally, has its own Privileges Committee specifically to preserve the many privileges of its members, which include charging domestic expenses and house purchase to the taxpayer.

In the last decade we have become a society where conformity to the current political fashion is the highest good. Non-conformity, which used to be an honourable tradition in England, is now regarded as utterly outrageous. Equality is the only goal for our humourless rulers … but don’t get me started on that.

The question of whether a Prince is allowed a few privileges is absurd, since they clearly go with the territory.

The wise know that privileges are like pink Cadillacs: you can have too many of them and they rapidly lose their charm over time.