Prince William tells TV show of ‘calling’ to save lives

The Duke of Cambridge has spoken of his “calling” to save lives as a helicopter pilot in a TV documentary to be screened next month.

In an interview for the BBC Wales programme Helicopter Rescue, which features footage of William in action as a search and rescue captain, he says: “There’s no greater feeling than when you’ve actually done some good and saved someone’s life.

“I don’t think there’s any greater calling in life … to be able to see a son or daughter’s face when you bring their mother or father back from the edge of death it’s quite powerful.”

In one rescue in the four-part series, the duke captains an aircraft called to save a boy who has fallen off an old railway bridge and on to rocks.

He describes his role once the call comes in: “As captain, you’re trying to play out the entire rescue, the transit to the rescue and back again in your mind, and pick up any circumstances or problems you can foresee, and try and fix them on the ground before you get airborne.”

Helicopter Rescue, which is the first to show footage of the duke’s work as a search and rescue pilot, starts on April 8 at 8.30pm.