Much to his own surprise Prince William reached a personal landmark today after flying solo for the first time, only eight days into his RAF course.

The Prince - known as Flying Officer William Wales to his colleagues - immediately dubbed it "an amazing feeling", adding: “Going solo is one of those things - if you had a list of the top 50 things to do before you die, it would be in there.”

He described his panic at the moment that his instructor at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire announced without warning that he was getting out of the plane.

“I was doing a few circuits going round and round then Roger my instructor basically turned round and said, ’Right I’m going to jump out now’, and I said, ’What? Where are you going?’," said the Prince.

“He said, ’You’re going on your own’, and I said, ’There’s no way I’m going to do that’, but he said I was ready for it, and jumped out.

“The next thing I knew I was taxiing down the runway and I was sitting there, saying, ’Oh my God, this is a bit odd. There’s no one in here’."

The Prince, 25, a Second Lieutenant with the Household Cavalry’s Blues and Royals, is on attachment to the RAF, stationed with 1 Squadron of 1 Elementary Flying Training School.

He is fulfilling a long held ambition by following in the footsteps of his father, the Prince of Wales, who earned his wings more than 35 years ago. The Duke of York, his uncle, is also a trained pilot who flew in combat in the Falklands War.

The day began as just another regular morning for the Prince, as he attended a normal series of briefings as all the trainee pilots do before any flying session.

First the Prince joined around a dozen other Flying Officers from his class to be briefed on the weather in the Lincolnshire area.

A one-to-one meeting with his instructor, Squadron Leader Roger Bousfield, followed, where the experienced pilot told the Prince: “The aim of today’s sortie is to fly normal circuits and landings.”

He joked: “We’ll be doing some aerobatics, I know you like that.”

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