It’s yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum for our sailor Prince as William takes up his two month secondment with the Royal Navy. Let’s hope the title line of that song doesn’t apply too often.

Following his training period at the Britannia Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon, the Prince will join HMS Iron Duke on drugs patrol in the Caribbean.

Full details of the deployment can be found here in the Clarence House briefing.

The RN stint ends in August when he will take a break before rejoining his Army regiment until January. He may be assigned to other duties during this period, since four months in Windsor Barracks would be something of an anticlimax after all that has gone before.

There’s much speculation about the crucial August break in the context of his relationship with Kate Middleton. Readers of Royal Anecdotes will be aware of what that is. We are saying nothing.