William, Prince of Wales

Prince William
Prince William of Wales
File:Princewilliam.jpg
Names William Arthur Philip Louis Mountbatten-Windsor
House	House of Windsor
Father	Charles, Prince of Wales
Mother	Diana, Princess of Wales
Occupation	Military - Cornet, Blues and Royals

"Prince William" redirects here. For other uses, see Prince William (disambiguation).

Prince William of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis Mountbatten-Windsor; born 21 June 1982) is the elder son of The Prince of Wales and the late Diana, Princess of Wales. He is second in the line of succession to the British throne and thrones of each of the other Commonwealth Realms. As the son of The Prince of Wales and grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince William is a member of the British Royal Family. He has recently graduated as an army officer at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and is due to enter the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry of the British Army like his younger brother Prince Harry. His official name as an army officer is 2nd Lieutenant William Wales. He is 6ft 3in (1.90m) tall.

Birth, family, and childhood

Prince William was born on 21 June 1982 at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, West London, England. His father is Charles, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His mother was Diana, Princess of Wales, youngest daughter of the 8th Earl Spencer. As a grandchild of the British monarch and son of the Prince of Wales, he is styled His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales. As a child, he was affectionately called by his parents Wombat or Wills.

He was christened on his great-grandmother's 82nd birthday on 4 August 1982 in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Robert Runcie. His godparents are: King Constantine of Greece, Sir Laurens van der Post, Princess Alexandra, the Duchess of Westminster, Lord Romsey and Lady Susan Hussey.

Through his grandfather on his mother's side, Prince William is descended from both the Duke of Grafton and the Duke of Richmond, two illegitimate sons of King Charles II of England and King James II of England, through an illegitimate daughter. William, should he become King, would be the first monarch since Queen Anne to be a direct descendent of Charles I of England.

He has a younger brother, Prince Harry. His father's second wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is their stepmother, giving the princes a step-brother, Tom Parker Bowles, and step-sister, Laura Lopes.

On 1 March 1991 (St. David's Day), Prince William made his first official public appearance during a visit to Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. After arriving by plane, the eight-year-old prince was taken by his parents to Llandaff Cathedral. After a tour of the cathedral, he signed its visitors' book, demonstrating that he was left-handed. Photographs of the Prince taken during his visit are on permanent display at the cathedral. On his departure, numerous school children and local residents from the surrounding area presented gifts to him, which he received with a smile and the whispered words "thank you".

On 3 June 1991, Prince William was admitted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital after being hit on the side of the forehead by another pupil wielding a golf club. The Prince did not lose consciousness, but suffered a depressed fracture of the skull and was operated on at the Great Ormond Street Hospital. A slight scar is still visible today.

The prince has been a keen fan of Aston Villa F.C. since childhood.

Death of Diana, Princess of Wales

On 31 August 1997, Prince William's mother, Diana, was killed in a car accident in Paris, France. Her death came days after she spent a holiday in southern France with both Prince William and Prince Harry. Both princes were staying with the Queen at Balmoral Castle at the time. Their father, Charles, woke them from their sleep to tell them the news.

At Diana's funeral, Prince William accompanied his father, brother, his grandfather Prince Philip and his uncle Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer in a walk behind Diana's funeral cortege from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. During his eulogy, the Earl Spencer promised that the Spencer family would take an active interest in looking after Diana's children, although William has seen little of him since then and also had little contact with Frances Shand Kydd, Diana's mother, before her death.

Education

Prince William's attended independent schools in southern England. In his early years he was a pupil at Mrs Jane Mynors' nursery school and the pre-preparatory Wetherby School, both in West London. In 1987, he also joined Fun With Music, a music appreciation class conducted by Ann Rachlin. Then, he attended Ludgrove School in Berkshire, a preparatory school. After passing an entrance exam, he went on to Eton College in Berkshire. Whilst there, he studied geography, biology and history of art at A-level.

Like a growing number of British teenagers, Prince William chose to take a gap year after finishing Eton College. He took part in a British Army training exercise in Belize. He spent the final stage of his gap year in southern Chile as a volunteer with Raleigh International. Pictures of the prince cleaning a toilet were broadcast around the world. [1]

After his gap year, Prince William attended the University of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland from 2001, graduating in 2005. He embarked on a degree course in Art History, but later changed his main subject to Geography. William earned a Scottish Master of Arts degree with upper-second class honours, the highest academic achievement of any heir to the British and other Commonwealth Realm thrones. At St Andrews, the Prince used the name William Wales.

In January 2006, Prince William began his cadet course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst to train as an Army Officer. William joined his brother who had been there since May 2005.

Royal duties and career

In July 2005, William carried out his first official engagements representing Elizabeth II, as Queen of New Zealand, at World War II commemorations in New Zealand. In the autumn of 2005, the prince took two work placements. He initially worked in land management at Chatsworth House, a Peak District estate of the Duke of Devonshire. William's second work placement was with the HSBC Group in London.

William's first patronage was to the UK charity Centrepoint, which works with homeless young people. During his mother's patronage to the charity, William would occasionally accompany her on visits. William is also patron of the Tusk Trust, an African conservation charity based in the UK.

The prince has been the president of England's Football Association since May 2006. In August 2006 it was announced that he would become Vice Royal Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union from February 2007, supporting his grandmother the Queen, who is Patron of the WRU.

In August of 2006, the Queen appointed Prince William to two patronages of the Royal Navy. William is Commodore-in-Chief for Scotland and Commodore-in-Chief for submarines.

Like many of his predecessors, Prince William has chosen to serve in the Armed Forces. On 15 December 2006, Prince William graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS). The passing out parade was attended by the Queen and Prince Charles, along with other members of the Royal Family and Kate Middleton, Prince William's current girlfriend. Prince William will officially receive his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant at a midnight ceremony on 15 December. Following the announcement in September, Prince William will follow his younger brother into the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) as a troop leader. Prince William will now spend four months at Bovington Camp in Dorset, training to become a troop commander in an armoured reconnaissance unit.

Prince William and Prince Harry have both indicated that they would be prepared to undertake active service. Given his position in the succession and the reluctance of previous British governments to allow the Heir to the Throne to be put into dangerous situations, it remains to be seen if this wish will be fully realised, however Major General Sebastian Roberts, general officer commanding the Household Division and Prince William's new boss, indicated it was possible that the prince could be deployed to a conflict zone. There seems to be further proof as Prince Harry is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq in May of 2007.

Unlike Prince Harry who will continue as a career soldier, Prince William will go on to spend time with both the RAF and the Royal Navy to prepare him for his future role. He will also increasingly carry out public engagements in parallel to his military career.

Girlfriends

William's love life has been the subject of much conjecture. Over the years, many young and eligible women have been speculatively linked to the Prince, including pop stars such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Natalie Imbruglia, often with no justification at all. In 2006, the media began intensively reporting his long-term relationship with current girlfriend Kate Middleton, formerly one of his university flatmates, whom he began dating in 2004. She has been seen in royal circles, holidayed with William, and been a guest at events suggesting that the relationship has official approval. There has been no statement from the Queen or Prince Charles regarding their views of the relationship or a possible marriage, but rumours of an imminent royal engagement have circulated .

Kate Middleton attended Prince William's passing out parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on December 15 2006. This is the first occasion that Ms Middleton has attended a high-profile public event as Prince William's guest. Ms Middleton was accompanied by both her parents and the prince's private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton. It was reported by Daily Mail, a British tabloid newspaper, that she was invited by the Queen to Christmas lunch in 2006, making her the first unmarried partner of a royal to be asked to the festive celebrations at the royal estate of Sandringham House near Sandringham, Norfolk. Ms. Middleton declined the offer, preferring to spend Christmas with her own family.

According to a 2006 December issue of People magazine, a palace spokeman stated that Kate Middleton is not at this time being groomed nor being advised to be a future princess. The Queen and royal family would prefer to see Prince William take the relationship slowly and not rush into anything in order to avoid recreating another disastrous marriage in the royal family. Prince William has stated he has no plans to marry in the near future. It is also to be noted that he has professional obligations, such as his military service, which would not be conducive to starting a family.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Styles of HRH Prince William of Wales
File:PW arms.gif
Reference style	His Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Royal Highness
Alternative style	Sir

Titles

• 21 June 1982-: His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales

Styles

Surname usage

Under an Order-in-Council in 1960, the non-titled descendants of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh were given the surname Mountbatten-Windsor, combining the surnames of Elizabeth and Philip. However, although titled, the Queen's children have all decided to use the surname also in honour of their father. For their banns for their first marriages, both William's aunt, Anne, Princess Royal and his own father, Charles, Prince of Wales, used Mountbatten-Windsor rather than Windsor. Mountbatten-Windsor is now officially treated as being the surname of all descendants of the Queen and the Duke except those, like the children of the Princess Royal, who have a new paternal surname (in that case, "Phillips").

As with Royal Family tradition, Prince William used "Wales" as a last name during his years of education, as has Prince Harry. William's York cousins in turn use "York" (other Royal Families also use their parents' title as their own working surname). Past precedent, however, is that such title-surnames are dropped from usage in adulthood, with either title alone or name and Mountbatten-Windsor being used on legal documents and banns of marriage.

Future

Upon the presumed accession of his father to the throne, William will automatically, and immediately, inherit the titles of Duke of Rothesay and Duke of Cornwall and it is expected that he will be invested by the king as Prince of Wales, although this is not automatic.

Should his father predecease the Queen, leaving William as first-in-line to the throne, he may well inherit his father's principal title directly.

The issue of what title, if any, Prince William might receive prior to his father's accession to the throne is more problematic - Buckingham Palace has refused to speculate as to what title might be given to Prince William in the future.

As the eldest son of the current Prince of Wales, William is also expected to ascend to the respective thrones of the United Kingdom and the other 15 Commonwealth Realms. Were William to decide to use his first name as his regnal name, he would be known as William V. However, William is free to use any one of his Christian names as a regnal name, as per Edward VII (Prince Albert) and George VI (also Prince Albert). Were he to decide on any of the three (Arthur Philip Louis), their usage would be the first for a regnal name in usual reckoning. (Although Philip II of Spain was a King consort of England, and Louis VIII of France, was proclaimed King of England in London in 1216; the semi-mythical King Arthur would certainly not count, as reckoning of regnal numbers begins usually with the Norman Conquest of 1066)

Arms

On his 18th birthday, Prince William was granted his own personalized coat of arms. His arms are those of the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom with a label for difference: Quarterly 1st and 4th, Gules three Lions passant guardant in pale Or (England) 2nd, or a lion rampant within a Double Tressure flory counterflory Gules (Scotland) 3rd, Azure a Harp Or stringed Argent (Ireland) the whole differenced by a Label of three points Argent the central point charged with an Escallop Gules. The Escallop Gules is in reference to his mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, as the Escallop appears in the Spencer coat of arms. As the eldest son of the eldest son of the sovereign, his arms are differenced by a label of three points unlike the arms of other grandchildren of the sovereign (if granted) which are differenced by a label of five points.

Popular Culture References

• In the fictional Princess in Waiting book, Princess Mia meets Prince William at the Farewell Ball that Genovia throws for her before her return to America. He briefly says something polite to her before turning away, and Mia is temporarily dazzled by his eyes. Prince William is also referred to at other instances in the book series, as well as in the second movie based on the series.
• On Instant Star, Jamie, in a bad mood, claims sarcastically that if Tommy resembles Johnny Depp, then he is William, to which Sadie replies that Tommy looks nothing like Johnny Depp.
• On Gilmore Girls, Paris contacts Rory through her boyfriend Dean's cell phone and to alleviate Rory's surprise, Paris says that she will no longer call "Prince William" on his cell.

See also

• Royal William, a German red rose named after Prince William shortly after his birth.
• British prince

External links

• Royal.gov.uk - Prince William
• Prince of Wales.gov.uk - Prince William
• Monarchy Wales - leading campaign organisation
• Illustrated biography of Prince William
• Prince William graduates from RMAS
• William, Prince of Wales at IMDb