CULTURE

Prince William Learned All About British Intelligence Agencies by Going Undercover for Three Weeks

The name's William...Prince William.

April 7, 2019

The Duke And Duchess Of Cambridge Visit Dundee

WPA Pool

Prince William isn’t the kind of future ruler who sits on the sidelines tweeting criticisms about the top agencies that keep his country safe. Nope. The Duke of Cambridge is a man of action. Recently, he rolled up his sleeves, dusted off the old noggin, and spent three weeks on a deep dive into the inner workings of Britain’s top intelligence and security agencies.

That information was tweeted out by Kensington Palace on Saturday evening, along with a photo of William on the scene at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), one of the three agencies he explored. According to the tweet, he also spent time at MI5 and MI6.

For a quick rundown on each agency, MI5 is the secret service tasked with protecting the U.K.’s national security, including its counterterrorism efforts. MI6 is Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service — basically, its version of the CIA — and works secretly overseas on national security and with the military. It’s the agency that gives James Bond his orders, and where Eve first took notice of Villanelle’s stylish psychopathy. At the GCHQ, meanwhile, William learned about Britain’s cutting-edge technology for dealing with threats to the country.

“These agencies are full of people from everyday backgrounds doing the most extraordinary work to keep us safe,” William said after his stint in the spy biz, in a palace release. He said he found the experiencing humbling, which seems appropriate when you think about the fact that for the past five years, the level of international terrorism in the country has been at “SEVERE.” It’s not as good as “cozy and safe,” but William’s working on that.

Apparently, the prince fit in well. David, GCHQ Head of Counter-Terrorism Operations, noted in the release that “William worked exceptionally hard to embed himself in the team and comfortably held his own amongst some highly skilled analysts and operators.” Does this mean we’ll soon be getting a reboot of BBC thriller MI-5, showing William and Kate doing really cool spy stuff to protect their beloved homeland? One can only hope.