The "Staggering" Drug Smuggling Shipment Prince William Helped Intercept With the Royal Navy in 2008

Prince William is known for his army service, and for working as a search and rescue helicopter pilot, prior to taking on official duties as a senior member of the Royal Family. However, the Prince of Wales's service included a stint in the Royal Navy, which involved attempting to stop drug smugglers in international waters.

In June 2008, Prince William embarked upon a secondment with the Royal Navy, which saw him working on a ship called the HMS Iron Duke in the Caribbean. Within a week of his arrival, the Prince of Wales had helped to apprehend a boat smuggling approximately $54 million of cocaine, via The Guardian. Per the Daily Mail, when adjusted for inflation, the shipment would be worth a "staggering" $81 million in 2025.

As reported by The Guardian in 2008, Prince William "was flying in the frigate's Lynx helicopter, which was alerted by intelligence to look out for an ocean-going speedboat suspected of smuggling drugs to west Africa or Europe." Coastguard officers subsequently stopped and boarded the speedboat, where they seized the huge amount of cocaine.

"The prince was one of 6 navy personnel on the Lynx when the boat was spotted," the Ministry of Defence told The Guardian.

Despite being a member of the Household Cavalry, Prince William wasn't allowed to join his fellow soldiers in Afghanistan. Instead, the Prince of Wales was sent on a naval mission working on board the HMS Iron Duke, where he aided in "intercepting drug smugglers and assisting with disaster relief in the event of a hurricane striking the Caribbean region," per The Guardian.

At the time, Commander Mark Newland told The Guardian, "This is a fantastic start to HMS Iron Duke's North Atlantic deployment. To have had a direct impact on the flow of cocaine into Europe just 4 days after we arrived...shows the benefit the Royal Navy can have in the area of maritime security and counter-drug operations."

Prince William's time with the Royal Navy provided him with "a lot of excitement and a lot of danger," according to royal expert Penny Junor, via the Daily Mail.