It has been announced in the South West of England tonight that the Search and Rescue operations at RAF Chivenor, covering North Cornwall and North Devon, are to be phased out during nighttime hours as a money-saving exercise.

A Sea King helicopter used by RAF Search and Rescue

The slack will be taken up by bases in Barry, South Wales and RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall.

Further down the line, it’s understood that RAF Sea King flights will be replaced by private services from 2012.

Prince William has just graduated as a Sea King Search and Rescue pilot and is currently undergoing further training in Anglesey, North Wales prior to taking up full operational duties.

The question he must be asking is quite where he will fit into an operation that is rapidly being scaled down and privatized. It is unthinkable that the MoD has not factored his role into their plans.

Could it be that he has made a bad career move and, like many ordinary people across the land, will find himself stranded without a job?

His brother, Prince Harry, is currently training to be an attack helicopter pilot with the Army and hopes to serve again in Afghanistan at some point in the future. It looks as if he, at least, has some job security.

Will these circumstances free William to take up his Royal role earlier than predicted, perhaps before the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations in 2012?

And what of an early marriage?

I’m often asked why I don’t report on the many rumours zipping around about the endlessly ongoing relationship between Kate Middleton and Prince William.

The simple answer is that most of them are untrue.

Now Judy Wade of Hello! magazine has shot down another batch of these phantom birds.

First, the plausible sounding report that Kate and William will be off to meet the Queen at Balmoral at the end of August. It’s definitely not on, says Judy. Nor is the linked tale of an engagement announcement on August 31, the anniversary of William’s mother, Diana, Princess of Wales’s death.

That never seemed a goer for me, since the two events are completely incompatible. The same goes for a wedding at St Paul’s Cathedral.

The new (or rehashed) idea that Kate is yet again planning a rendezvous with New York to enhance her photographic skills, explodes when you consider the paparazzi onslaught that would result in a city far from the protection squad she would need.

If Princess Eugenie is under the cosh for taking police guards abroad, how much more intense would it be for a non-Royal, non-engaged girlfriend of a Prince? And whatever happened to Eugenie’s arrival at an American university? Newcastle is a long way from New England.

It seems that Kate enjoys the privacy that working from a home office allows her, despite the constant barrage of derision it brings. I can understand that as I do the same myself. She will not lightly give it up in favour of a stint in an overseas city, however tempting that might be. Prince Harry’s reception by New Yorkers was a foretaste of what it might be like.

The story appears to be an echo of the Mario Testino affair last year, which went the rounds until he declared, “Where did this story come from? It’s new to me.”

There’s a rhythm to all this speculation. Stories are punted, based on clearly misleading information, only to be shot down later as “completely untrue”.

It may be that William’s friends are putting up smokescreens, like helicopter chaff, to deflect attention from what’s really going on, or, more likely, the sheer humdrum nature of both his RAF training and Kate’s work with Party Pieces.

The true story of Kate and William’s romance would never have become a Barbara Cartland novel, that’s for sure.

So Prince William and Kate Middleton attended a polo match over the weekend and *gasp* he put his arm on her shoulder in a gesture of affection (pictured).

This is a couple who have been in and out of “going out” for so long, you almost have to be of the Queen Mother’s generation to remember when it all began.

Nowadays, they are spotted together two or three times a year, usually at polo or shooting parties. Their public appearances go round in circles without ever getting anywhere. It’s a bit like watching one of those everlasting film loops on the 24-hour news channels.

What is the real story behind this sporadic romance that would never make the pages of Mills and Boon? Sometimes I think even they don’t really know where it will end. They act like a couple whose early romance has spluttered out, but are so comfortable with each other, they can’t bring themselves to end it completely.

When the Prince finished his military training last year, it was generally assumed he would settle down and help out the family firm, especially his elderly grandmother. Visions of a glittering Royal wedding became the norm in the media and beyond.

Then, William surprised everyone, including Kate and his minders, by signing up for a long stint as a helicopter pilot in the RAF. Incredibly, his brother, Prince Harry, also sank his future in a similar role with the Army. We now have the second and third-in-line to the Throne training to fly helicopters in hazardous circumstances for years to come.

While I can understand Harry wanting to see action, it doesn’t make sense for his elder brother also to seek harm’s way. The Armed Forces can’t be that short of helicopter pilots that a whole generation of Royal heirs have to be drafted in.

While the Queen is sensibly rationing her daily workload, and the Prince of Wales — now the oldest occupier of that title in history — is not the sprightly youth he once was, it is inexplicable that the Monarchy’s future, the younger Princes, should absent themselves when the Queen needs them most.

This loop will run and run. I suspect most of us are bored stiff with it already.

William should take care that the public don’t forget about him entirely, hardly recognizing the man when he finally ascends to the Throne, a stranger to his people.

John Evans

There is a powerful school of thought that the Monarchy is best when it’s boring.

Prince William and Prince Harry

I would prefer to say, it has a duty to be boring to the extent that boring doesn’t trip over the toes of politicians.

However, I don’t believe that boring should apply equally to members of the Royal Family whose job it is to help the Monarch embody and unify the nation. Boring and invisible are not known unifying forces.

At present the Royal Family is keeping a very low profile. Its future, the two 20-something Princes, are buried deep in the Armed Forces, except for occasional forays into charitable activities, which by necessity, are boring.

If you write about Monarchy and Royalty, as we do here, there are very few Royal stories around.

Kate Middleton has popped into a very black hole, possibly allowing her to fade from public notice with dignity. If she ever pops out permanently on the arm of Prince William, it will be deja vu all over again, as some wit put it. In other words, boring.

Chelsy Davy has reportedly had a few flings during her former boyfriend’s absence on flying duties. Holidays in South Africa without Harry, and a new job in a London law office beckon. Boring doesn’t begin to cover it.

Prince Charles and Camilla stagger from one overseas PR disaster to another, giving the impression of a ragged and disputatious marriage — which it probably isn’t. Well, not all of the time.

Oh, and Princess Beatrice has got a new plait on the top of her head. Hold the back page!

It couldn’t be more boring, could it?

This wholesale retreat from public life is said to be a way of sharing the public’s new-found poverty. Rightly, photos of drunken Princes swaying out of £100-a-shot nightclubs are strictly off-limits now.

The Princes’ new team at St James’s Palace can hardly be expected to come up with new publicity stories while the “boys” are in the military, training for future under-the-radar roles.

Has the Queen fallen into the same trap that caused such consternation when Diana died? Locking the family away in Balmoral, while half the country was heaving with grief, was understandable for an ordinary family, but not for Royalty. Monarchy needs to be visible at low points in the national life. Future popularity depends on it.

The new austerity is a wise choice, given the appalling attrition many families are facing across the country. But a bit of Royal magic would go down a treat now.