Prince of Wales to celebrate London’s Air Ambulance Charity renewing its fleet

Hollywood star Tom Cruise and Arsenal football club manager Mikel Arteta were among the guests at a gala fundraising dinner.

The Prince of Wales, Patron of London’s Air Ambulance Charity (Daniel Leal/PA) (PA Archive)

The Prince of Wales will celebrate London’s Air Ambulance Charity renewing its fleet following a successful multimillion-pound fundraising appeal.

William is patron of the charity which launched its Up Against Time appeal to fund two new helicopters for its service.

In August, William hailed the announcement the money had been raised, posting on X, formally Twitter:”Fantastic News! This is going to have a life-saving impact.

“A huge thank you to everyone who donated W.”

Hollywood star Tom Cruise and Arsenal football club manager Mikel Arteta were among the guests at a gala fundraising dinner in February for the charity’s appeal.

The prince, a former air ambulance pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance, attended the event and in a speech highlighted the urgency of the cause: “Here in London, the current aircraft have served magnificently. But our capital city needs a new fleet.

“And we are Up Against Time. The clue really is in the appeal’s name. By September, we need the two new red birds – decked with the latest kit such as night vision – in our skies.”

William will visit RAF Northolt in west London to view the new helicopters and meet pilots and medical crew.

But predicted bad weather has forced the cancellation of the delivery flight of one of the helicopters, the prince was due to join, from the military airfield to the Royal London Hospital.

London’s Air Ambulance Charity was established in 1989 following a growing consensus of opinion that victims of serious accidents were dying because of the delay in expert medical help reaching them, and the time it took to transport patients to hospital.

The service pioneered the doctor-on-board model for air ambulances and aims to bring the hospital emergency department to the scene of an incident.