Kate and William take children on visit to plane that carried Queen's coffin
The Prince and Princess of Wales have taken their three children to visit an airshow where they had the chance to sit in the cockpit of a plane used to carry the late Queen's coffin ahead of her funeral last September.
Prince George and his younger siblings, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, toured the Royal International Air Tattoo privately with their parents William and Catherine as their school holidays began.
They saw the huge C-17 transporter aircraft that was used to carry the late Queen's coffin from Edinburgh to London in the days ahead of her funeral last September with Wing Commander Will Essex in charge of the operation.
The young royals enjoyed the experience of being taken around the aircraft by Wg Cdr Essex, with Louis spotted clambering onto a quad bike in the hold and heard speaking on the aircraft's PA system.
The children on the C-17 aircraft during a visit to the Royal International Air Tattoo (PA)Wg Cdr Essex, commanding officer of 99 Squadron which operates the C-17 planes, said: "With the prince and princess we were chatting about our roles and with the children we were just showing them around.
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"They sat on a little quadbike we had down the back and then they got in the cockpit and sat in the pilots' seats and flicked some switches."
Future king George, who celebrates his 10th birthday on July 22, sister Charlotte, aged eight, and five-year-old brother Louis have all broken up from their Lambrook School in Berkshire.
Prince William talking to George during the visit (PA)
The Princess of Wales with Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis during the visit (PA)The event was a return visit for George who was taken to the show by his parents in 2016, aged three, and was pictured wearing ear defenders at the time.
With the rain lashing down, the royal children were dressed for a summer day in light casual clothing and George and Charlotte looked around at the rain-soaked concrete around the huge plane when they stepped from their car at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
George was given the task of partially raising the plane's ramp and could be seen pressing the button as his father watched before the royals were given a private tour.
The Princess of Wales chatted to Air Cadets during the visit (PA)When it was lowered around 10 minutes later Louis was seen jumping onto the quad bike and was later heard saying "hello" over the PA system.
Later Kate made a solo trip to the sprawling airshow's tech zone where hundreds of school children were gathered to learn about the science and engineering behind aviation.
She chatted to Air Cadets Rowan Dally, Matthew Busby, both 19, and Anna Dury, 17, dubbed The Three Flying Fish who are aiming to become the youngest team to row across the Atlantic in a challenge planned for 2025.
Anna, whose cadet group is based in Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, said: "I was a bit cheeky and asked her if she wanted to join us and she asked for us to keep her posted."
The visit came as the children's summer holidays began (PA)
Kate sheltering from the rain (PA)She also chatted to Air Cadets from 172 Haywards Heath Squadron in Sussex including Luke Mutton, who has learnt to fly but has yet to pass his driving test.
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He said: "I haven't started driving yet, it's just so amazing flying a plane, I don't think there's anything that beats the feeling you get from flying."
The 17-year-old said the princess mentioned her grandfather was a pilot, and according to reports Peter Middleton flew alongside the late duke of Edinburgh as a co-pilot during Philip's two-month tour of South America in 1962.
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