Shy Torque
I have seen members of the Royal Family flown around New Zealand in UH1s. . It still has nothing to do with the legality of operating an ex military helicopter. In Military use, the Military can put whoever they want onboard their aircraft and go and fly. In the Civilian world then those aircraft have to obey the civilian rules.
Those same UH1s will never fly as a civilian helicopter, as the American TC's say that any aircraft to be eligible for a TC MUST have been operated by the US military....
I still remember being at HAI when Bell/Sik/Boeing and the FAA were telling us all how dangerous and totally unsafe Restricted Category helicopters were, when an Army General, or whatever rank, stood up and straight faced asked the company reps if they were selling the US Military substandard aircraft to send Americas Finest into battle with! It was funny to watch the company reps squirm as they were trying to explain when their own helicopters became the most unsafe things on Gods Green Earth.... finally came down to not the aircraft, simply paperwork and the operator