Prince William and Kate leave Pakistan day after aborted flight

Royal couple safe after turbulent journey, with Duke of Cambridge, himself a pilot, joking that he had been the one flying the aircraft

Mid-air drama came after William and Kate visited Lahore orphanage, played cricket and toured Badshahi Mosque

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Britain’s Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and his wife, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, visit the historical Badshahi Mosque in Lahore on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Published: 1:41am, 18 Oct 2019Updated: 11:07pm, 18 Oct 2019

Prince William and his wife Kate left Pakistan on Friday after a tour dramatically capped by a terrifying mid-air plane drama, which saw their Royal Air Force pilot abort two landings in a fierce thunderstorm over Islamabad.

The turbulence from the Thursday evening storm during the flight from Lahore to Islamabad shook the plane so hard that seasoned foreign correspondents said they had never experienced anything like it.

“It was pretty bumpy up there,” the Daily Mail’s royal correspondent, Rebecca English, quoted the Duchess of Cambridge as saying.

“If I’m honest … that was the most nervous I’ve ever felt in a plane,” said ITV royal correspondent Chris Ship, who was on board.

The RAF Voyager aircraft that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge travelled on in Lahore, Pakistan on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

The pilot of the RAF Voyager reportedly tried to land twice, once at a military base in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near the capital, and once at Islamabad International.