91Èȱ¬

A cafe owner became a royal caterer after Prince William dropped in for a burger while his helicopter refuelled.

Charles Brathwaite, who runs the cafe at Swansea Airport, served bacon baps, cheeseburgers and chips after his guest arrived on an RAF training mission.

He said: "It was a good laugh. He had his burger and chips. I cooked a meal for all nine crew members."

Prince William, known as Flt Lt Wales, is on a helicopter training course at RAF Valley on Anglesey.

The prince and the rest of the Sea King helicopter crew landed at the airport on Tuesday lunchtime for a refuelling stop.

Mr Brathwaite said: "The Sea King normally comes in anyway. It comes in for fuel or a pit stop as it were, but on this occasion he was on board.

"All nine crew members came out and came into the cafe."

Mr Brathwaite, 43, said the group were discussing who was going to pay for lunch when he realised there was a royal crew member on board.

He said: "I was like 'oh my God, it's you'. It was a bit of a shock."

It is not known if Prince William was the pilot or co-pilot on the flight but a spokesperson for the airport said a plane spotter later reported seeing the prince at the controls of the aircraft as it took off.

The prince is not the only royal to partake of Mr Brathwaite's catering during his four years in charge of the Red Dragon cafe.

He cooked for the Queen's staff when she opened Swansea's LC2 leisure centre in 2008, and Princess Anne once landed at the airport on her way to a function.

RAF Valley is one of six search and rescue, or SAR, units operating in the UK, providing a life-saving rescue service to both the military and civilians, day and night, in all weathers.

Valley's 22 Squadron Sea King helicopters are a regular sight over the mountains of Snowdonia, but can also be expected to answer calls as far afield as Northern Ireland.

RAF Chivenor in north Devon provides a search and rescue service across much of south Wales.