The Prince of Wales hinted that his son, Prince George, is keen to follow in his footsteps in future.
As Prince William, 41, mingled with guests at the Buckingham Palace garden party on Tuesday, he spoke with Squadron Leader Chrissie Lacey, a padre serving at RAF Coningsby near Lincoln.
The future king told the minister that ten-year-old George would love to visit the base as he is a "potential pilot in the making".
George, who is second in line to the throne, has been fascinated with aircraft since he was a toddler, with mum Kate revealing back in 2016 that her then three-year-old son was "obsessed with planes and wants to become an air cadet".
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The young royal has previously demonstrated his love for aviation, having attended the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford when he was just two.
George also looked thrilled to be given a tour of a helicopter in Hamburg during the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's tour of Germany and Poland in 2017.
And the Prince beamed as he was put in charge of a task when William and Kate took their children on a treat to the Royal International Air Tattoo in Gloucestershire last summer.
George's interest in becoming a pilot is no surprise given William's previous role as a RAF search and rescue pilot for three years at RAF Valley in Anglesey, Wales. The Prince also worked as an air ambulance pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance from 2015 to 2017 when his eldest children, George and Charlotte, were little.
And George's uncle, Prince Harry, completed two tours of Afghanistan as a forward air controller and an Apache helicopter pilot.
William the self-confessed cookie lover
Squadron Leader Chrissie Lacey, who is famed for getting up early to bake for the base, handed William a bag of cookies after he asked if she had woken up at 5am as they met at the garden party.
The delighted Prince said: "I promise you that wasn't a fishing expedition but I will take them all the same, this is amazing."
The minister said later: "I like to share the love around the station, so I bake cookies for the personnel, and I go out and give them away. It's part of my ministry and it gives them a chance to stop, to pause and have a breather and talk and feel valued and appreciated.
"I got up at 4.30am to bake them, some have gone on to the station to be given away and I kept some aside for him."
William's favourite teatime treat – chocolate biscuit cake – was famously served at his and Kate's royal wedding in 2011.
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