Brunei's Local News - Brudirect.com

London - Brunei darussalam's royalty marked a historic moment with the admission of His Royal Highness Prince Hj 'Abdul 'Azim into one of the world's most prestigious military institutions, the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst (RMA Sandhurst).

Just a few days after graduating with a BSc with Honours degree in politics and international relations from Oxford Brookes University, His Royal Highness reported for Commissioning Course No 83 at the Academy premises at College Town.

His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, who arrived in London on Thursday to witness His Royal Highness' convocation, was escorted on arrival at the Academy to the Government House to meet with RMA Sandhurst Commandant Major General DJ Rutherford-Jones on Sunday. His Royal Highness arrived with His Majesty.

The Sandhurst Commandant's aide de camp later

led His Royal Highness to the Acacierny's Old College in the vicinity before the monarch, accompanied by Major General Rutherford-Jones, followed to visit his son's living quarters.

His Majesty's visit to the 61-year-old academy brings back memories of his days as an officer cadet, where he was commissioned as a captain in 1967 before leaving the academy in October of the same year to ascend the throne.

The monarch has long been known as a strong advocate of the military as an institution, holding the position as Minister of Defence and the Supreme Commander of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces. Now his second eldest son is following in his footsteps, by doing his part for nation building.

His Royal Highness Prince Hj 'Abdul 'Azim's entry into the academy is another addition to the list of Brunei's royal family members who have trained as officer cadets.

The ruling families of many countries have sent their sons to Sandhurst. King Hussein of Jordan was the first, in 1986, to send one of his daughters, Princess Aisha. Since then, women have come from Barbados, Brunei, Fiji, Jamaica, Jordan, Malawi and Malta.

The RMA at Sandhurst was formed in 1947, from a merger of the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich (which trained officers for the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers from 1741 to 1939) and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. Following the termination of National Service in the UK, Sandhurst became the sole establishment for initial officer training in the British Army as the Mons Officer Training School in Aldershot was closed.

Sandhurst, unlike some other national military academies such as West Point in the United States, the Pakistan Military Academy, or the National Defence Academy (India), is not a university. Some 85 per cent of entrants are university graduates, but this is not an absolute requirement.

The Commissioning Course consists of three terms, each of which lasts 14 weeks. At the ends of term one, cadets go on a one week adventurous training course and they participate in an adventurous training expedition in the second term.

At the end of the third term, cadets are commissioned and leave the academy to carry out their second phase of training which focuses on that part of the army they will join such as the infantry, artillery, logistics or other technical or general arms. Commissioning Course No 83 began on Monday. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times