Her existing military appointment associated with the RAF includes the Royal Honorary Air Commodore of the Air Cadets, who the source said are “not part of the regular military”.

The new more senior position with the Air Force was an honorary role previously held by the late Princess Margaret and then the Princess of Wales’s husband, Prince William, from 2008.

The defence source also explained what the new title will entail for the Princess, saying: “It is likely she will visit relatively frequently, probably fly with us, attend significant functions, parades and events, meet the people, get involved with the base community, invite peers to events she is involved with elsewhere, maybe support base charity work etc.”

Prince Andrew’s titles reallocated

She was also appointed as Colonel-in-Chief of 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards and as the new Commodore-in-Chief of the Fleet Air Arm, which is a Royal Navy position that was previously held by Prince Andrew.

The Duke of York was stripped of all of his military titles in January last year in an attempt to protect the Royal family from the fallout of sexual abuse allegations.

It came after he was forced to “step down” from Royal duties, give up his HRH title, and was followed by events that would eventually lead to him paying a settlement of around £12 million in a civil sex abuse case without admitting wrongdoing.

Another of the Duke’s former military titles that has been newly reallocated includes the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Irish Regiment, which now belongs to the Duchess of Edinburgh.

It was announced last December that Queen Camilla would take over Prince Andrew’s coveted Colonel of the Grenadier Guards honorary title and she was also recently announced as the new Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Lancers, a title that also once belonged to Andrew.

The Queen’s father, the late Major Bruce Shand, had a long association with the British Armed Forces and served with the 12th Lancers during the Second World War.

The Queen is also the new patron of the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department, a position previously held by the late Elizabeth II.

As part of the reshuffle of royal appointments, the King has now taken over eight of his mother’s former honorary posts himself, including Sponsor of the Royal Navy’s warship HMS Queen Elizabeth.

In July 2014 Queen Elizabeth II travelled to Rosyth to lead the official naming ceremony of the £3.2 billion aircraft carrier, the largest and most powerful vessel ever built by the Royal Navy.

The event saw Queen Elizabeth press a button that smashed a bottle of Islay malt whisky on the vessel’s bow, breaking with the tradition of smashing a bottle of champagne onto the hull.