Prince William to the Rescue!

Prince William can’t actually go to war like his younger brother Harry, so the future king is doing the next best thing: He’s joined the Royal Air Force’s search and rescue program, where he’ll pilot a Sea King rescue helicopter. “This is a very exciting, dramatic job, and at times, it’s going to be quite dangerous,” a William biographer tells CBS. “So this job goes some way, I suppose, to compensate for the fact that he’s not going to be a frontline soldier.”

The British royals traditionally serve in the military, but the prince in line for the throne can’t be deployed. William will be based in Wales, where he lives with his girlfriend. And training the royal pilot hasn’t been cheap; William’s helicopter instruction has cost taxpayers $1.5 million. (More Prince William stories.)