What is King Charles's military background referenced by Zelenskyy in pilot speech?

Monarch is an experienced aviator and trained to fly planes during his military service in the 1970s

CRANWELL - AUGUST 01: Prince Charles, Prince of Wales trains in a jet at RAF Crwnwell in order to gain his 'wings' on August 01, 1971 in Cranwell, England. (Photo by Anwar Hussein/Getty Images)

The prince receives his wings at RAF Cranwell in August 1971

The prince with a jet plane at RAF Cranwell in 1971

Prince Charles is briefed by Wing Commander 'Hank' Martin before his flight in a Phantom Interceptor as part of his training

The prince while serving in the Royal Navy on board the HMS Minerva at Plymouth in 1973

The prince tackles an assault course at the Royal Marines Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon, and achieves a first-class pass, in 1975

Prince Charles helps a colleague put on his helmet during his time with the 845 Naval Air Squadron in 1975

The prince speaks with members of the Royal Regiment of Wales and the Parachute Regiment in Basrah, Iraq in 2004

Prince Charles is shown an Apache helicopter by crew members at Wattisham Airfield in 2009

Prince Charles climbs onboard the latest Hawk training jet during a visit to RAF Valley in 2009 in Holyhead, Wales

The prince on a British military helicopter en route to Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan on March 25, 2010

Prince Charles sits for a group picture after presenting campaign medals to soldiers from the Black Watch in Fort George, Scotland, in 2010

The prince visits First Battalion the Mercian Regiment to mark 10 years as Colonel-in-Chief and 40 years since becoming Colonel-in-Chief of the Cheshire Regiment at Bulford Camp in Salisbury in 2018

Volodymyr Zelenskyy used a historic speech in the UK's Houses of Parliament to praise King Charles's support for Ukraine, referring to the monarch’s own air force training to tell parliamentarians that in his country every pilot is a “king”.

The Ukrainian leader showed his knowledge of the king’s own Royal Air Force flying experience, as he told the assembled audience in Parliament that he wanted to tell the monarch something “very, very, very important”.

“In Britain, the king is an air force pilot and in Ukraine today, every air force pilot is a king,” he said, to applause.

King Charles shook the hands of Mr Zelenskyy during their meeting at Buckingham Palace, telling him: “We've all been worried about you and thinking about your country for so long.”

King Charles trained as an aviator and flew planes for the RAF and a helicopter for the Royal Navy in the 1970s.

He was given his pilot's wings in 1971 after graduating from Cranwell in Lincolnshire, the college where Britain's budding military pilots are trained.

The king qualified as a helicopter pilot in 1974 before joining 845 Naval Air Squadron, which operated from the Commando carrier HMS Hermes.

He was given command of his own ship, the minehunter HMS Bronington, for the final 10 months of his active service in the Royal Navy which ended in 1976.

King Charles was appointed to the rank of Marshal of the RAF in 2012, the highest rank in the British Royal Air Force.

He also ascended to the position Air Commodore-in-Chief of the RAF following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II in September last year.

King Charles last visited the Cranwell in 2008 for the Duke of Cambridge’s graduation ceremony, when Prince William became the fourth successive generation of the monarchy to become an RAF pilot.

The monarch gave up flying in 1994 after a plane that he was piloting crash-landed on Islay, an island off the western Scottish coast.

On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced plans to train Ukrainian pilots, paving the way for them to potentially be able to fly sophisticated Nato-standard jets in the future.

Mr Zelenskyy used his speech to call for a coalition of nations to supply planes.

He said: “I appeal to you and the world with simple and yet most important words: combat aircraft for Ukraine, wings for freedom.”