Prince William made his first speech today as patron of the organisation (Image: Aaron Chown -WPA Pool/Getty Images)
was asked to send his “best wishes” to wife Princess Kate as he attended his first engagement of 2025 today in Birmingham.
The Prince of Wales, 42, was on Wednesday and attended its inaugural Emergency and Critical Care Conference at the Birmingham Conference and Events Centre.
Throughout his visit, William spent plenty of time talking to paramedic staff from across the country about current training programmes, the use of drones and hospital waiting times.
The prince was also reunited with Ed Griffiths, who served as a SAR Paramedic with at RAF Valley in Anglesey when the prince was a search and rescue pilot.
While William spent plenty of time talking to paramedics about their own experiences and job roles, Tracy Nicholls, Chief Executive Officer at the College of Paramedics, was keen to send her best wishes to Princess Kate following the news yesterday that
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She told the future King: “I want to say how delighted we are to hear about the Royal Highness and send her our best wishes.”
After chatting to a number of paramedics about a number of topics, including current low morale and full hospitals, William also made a speech about his new role as the patron.
The prince said: “I am so pleased to be standing here as the College of Paramedics’ new Patron and to have the opportunity to join your first ever Emergency and Critical Care conference.
“Thank you to everyone who has made this event possible. Often referred to as the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of frontline healthcare, paramedics and those in the emergency services are adaptable, multiskilled and crucially, know how to work under pressure. This pressure is something I was all too familiar with during my time as a pilot for RAF Search and Rescue and for the East Anglian Air Ambulance.”
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William was reunited with Edward Griffiths who he worked with at RAF Valley in Anglesey (Image: Aaron Chown -WPA Pool/Getty Images)
The future King continued: “In this country, we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to our emergency services. As paramedics in whatever guise, your work uniquely places tremendous demands upon you and I cannot thank you enough for all that you do.”
The College of Paramedics was set up in 2001 and is a membership organisation open to all UK paramedics registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and student paramedics.
The aim of the organisation is to help improve professional standards, learning and development, and taking care of paramedics’ mental health and wellbeing when needed – something the prince praised during today’s event.