Prince Harry once broke the strict no-fly rule protecting King Charles’ Sandringham estate – sending fighter jets roaring above neighboring homes during his military training, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Harry, 42, revealed in his memoir Spare how he used the royal family’s private Norfolk estate, where Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, 66, now lives, while training as a Forward Air Controller in 2007.
His exercises involved directing military aircraft, including Typhoon fighter jets, despite restrictions on flights around Sandringham.
Harry wrote: “He found me in the marshes, on a quad bike, talking to a Typhoon some miles off. While I waited for the Typhoon to appear in the sky overhead, we had a quick chat.”
Charles, now 77, had traveled to see his younger son training after spotting one of the jets carrying out low passes along the seawall.
Harry said his father was impressed by the work rather than furious about the extraordinary disturbance.
“He said he could see how good I was getting at this new job,” Harry recalled. “Above all, he could see how hard I was working at it, and that delighted him.”
Harry was required to master 28 combat controls as part of his training and chose Sandringham partly because its remoteness allowed him to work without attracting significant public attention.
Charles had his own experience of military aviation, having trained as a jet pilot with the Royal Air Force and as a helicopter pilot with the Royal Navy during the 1970s.
According to Harry, his father “loved” watching the aircraft traveling at “ungodly speeds” – although people living around the royal estate were considerably less enthusiastic.
Harry noted: “I mentioned that the good citizens of Wolferton didn’t share his enthusiasm. A 10,000-kilo jet roaring just over their tiled roofs didn’t exactly cause jubilation. RAF Marham had received dozens of complaints. Sandringham was supposed to be a no-fly zone. All complaints were told, ‘Such is war.'”
Charles’ response, according to Harry, was characteristically brief.
He said: “Yes, yes, darling boy, back to work.”
Restrictions around Sandringham have since become significantly more formalized.
A permanent restricted airspace zone covering Sandringham House and surrounding areas came into effect in December 2021, with aircraft generally prohibited from flying below 2,000 feet within the designated area unless authorized or exempted.
The measure was introduced for security reasons.
Sandringham extends to about 20,000 acres of woodland, farmland and parkland and remains one of the monarch’s private properties.
It has recently attracted renewed attention following Andrew’s move to Marsh Farm on the estate after leaving Royal Lodge in Windsor.
Andrew has been photographed around Sandringham with the late Queen Elizabeth II’s corgis, Sandy and Muick, which he and his former wife Sarah Ferguson took responsibility for after the Queen diedv in 2022.
Visitors to the estate face other restrictions alongside those in the skies.
Barbecues are prohibited across the estate’s public areas because of the fire risk to the surrounding woodland and farmland, although designated accommodation areas have separate provisions.
The estate has also historically imposed controls intended to protect its wildlife – making Harry’s memories of thundering Typhoon jets above the Norfolk countryside an unusual chapter in Sandringham’s otherwise carefully controlled existence.
Andrew was stripped of his remaining royal titles and honors by King Charles last year amid continuing controversy over his association with Jeffrey Epstein.
He also surrendered his lease on Royal Lodge, the Windsor mansion he had occupied for more than two decades before relocating to the King’s Sandringham estate.