Charles plane in near-miss scare

Charles was unaware of the near-miss

A military plane carrying the Prince of Wales was in a near miss with a passenger jet, it has been revealed.

Prince Charles was not aware of the incident as he travelled to Spain on 24 March for the Madrid bomb service, but both pilots filed reports on it.

The National Air Traffic Service says that at no point was the safety of either plane compromised.

It said the two aircraft were more than 900ft apart at all times and the air traffic controller had acted swiftly.

The prince was on HS146 of the Queen's Flight with staff and took off from RAF Northolt in west London.

Passengers were informed of the incident afterwards but they weren't actually aware of it while the flight was taking place Clarence House spokesman

An Airbus A321 carrying up to 186 passengers was heading to Heathrow airport, coming from Cork in the Republic of Ireland.

The near-miss happened at 0830 BST at 11,500ft above Newbury in Berkshire, prompting concerns from the pilots.

An investigation has been launched to establish whether there was a risk of collision.

The National Air Traffic Service said safety was not compromised and the planes were at least three miles apart horizontally and 900ft vertically.

A statement said the air traffic controller involved had recognised the potential conflict and acted immediately.

A spokesman for Clarence House said: "All we are saying is that passengers were informed of the incident afterwards but they weren't actually aware of it while the flight was taking place."

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "We can confirm that there was a near-miss incident but not which aircraft were involved."