“Prince Charles, on the other hand, seems to have an IQ of about 50. He’s never done anything sensible in his life, as far as I can see.”
Tidbit from Wiki:
Military training and career
Following royal tradition, Charles served in the navy and air force. After requesting and receiving Royal Air Force training during his second year at Cambridge, on 8 March 1971 he flew himself to the Royal Air Force College Cranwell to train as a jet pilot. Following the passing-out parade that September, he embarked on a naval career, enrolling in a six-week course at the Royal Naval College Dartmouth and then serving on the guided missile destroyer HMS Norfolk (1971–1972) and the frigates HMS Minerva (1972–1973) and HMS Jupiter (1974). He also qualified as a helicopter pilot at RNAS Yeovilton in 1974, just prior to joining 845 Naval Air Squadron, operating from HMS Hermes. On 9 February 1976, he took command of the coastal minehunter HMS Bronington for his last ten months serving actively in the navy. He learned to fly on a Chipmunk basic pilot trainer, a BAC Jet Provost jet trainer, and a Beagle Basset multi-engine trainer; he then regularly flew the Hawker Siddeley Andover, Westland Wessex and BAe 146 aircraft of The Queen’s Flight.
That section of the Wikipedia article is unsourced, incidentally.
As it says, that was the royal tradition. The Prince of Wales HAS to serve in the military, qualified or not. I wouldn’t trust Wikipedia too far on this. But also, he was a young man then, not yet well known, and I’m sure that his superior officers gave him ever break and benefit of the doubt if they discovered he was pretty hopeless. They wouldn’t put him into combat like that, but they also wouldn’t undermine the heir to the throne by speaking too frankly.
Helicopter pilot? How much did he do, and how much did his copilot-trainer do? Who knows? He never served in real active duty, like Prince Harry, so far as I know.