Prince William returns from Falklands posting to relieved Duchess Kate (VIDEO)
Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge (C) smiles as she visits the 1st Battalion Irish Guards at the St Patrick’s Day Parade on March 17, 2012 at Mons Barracks, in Aldershot, one of her many engagements while William was on duty in the Falkland Islands.
Prince William has returned home after his contentious deployment to the Falkland Islands.
William, stationed on the disputed islands off Argentina since February, will have a few days leave with wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, before returning to work as a helicopter search-and-rescue pilot at an RAF base in Wales, USA Today wrote, citing British defense officials.
Catherine, as she prefers to be known, filled in his absence with a series of official engagements: her first solo outing with the queen, William's grandmother, first public speech, and first solo military appearance among them.
ABC New likened her to "any other military spouse who misses their husband or wife while he or she is away," however.
"I am only sorry that William can’t be here today; he would love it here," she said on Monday in prepared remarks delivered at a children’s charity function.
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William was one of several pilots on call for search and rescue missions in the disputed Falklands, a sprawling archipelago 290 miles off its coast.
Argentina claims them, and the British royal's presence on what Argentines refer to as Las Malvinas angered Buenos Aires in the run-up to the 30th anniversary of the country's April 1982 invasion, according to the Associated Press.
According to ABC News, Flight Lt. Wales (as he’s known in the Royal Air Force) was branded “William the conqueror” by Argentina’s Foreign Ministry.
He was said by islanders to have kept a low profile, though he did visit a local hospital and a remote island that is home to penguins, sea lions and elephant seals.
The now-reunited couple will return to their small house in Anglesey and use Kensington Palace as their their London home.
William — second in line to the throne after his father, Charles — has previously expressed a desire to remain in the military while the couple starts a family, to avoid the pressures of a fully public Royal life.
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They are due to jointly participate in events commemorating the queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
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