Prince William of Wales
Prince William of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis
Mountbatten-Windsor), (born
21 June 1982) is second in the
line of succession to the
British throne and thrones of each of the other
Commonwealth Realms. He is the elder son of The
Prince of Wales and his first wife, the late
Diana, Princess of Wales. 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 is currently in training as an
army officer at the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Prince William was born on
21 June,
1982 at
St Mary's Hospital in
Paddington, West
London. 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, his parents affectionately called him
Wombat.
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 were:
King Constantine of Greece,
Sir Laurens van der Post,
Princess Alexandra, the
Duchess of Westminster,
Lord Romsey and
Lady Susan Hussey.
Through his mother, Prince William is descended from both the
Duke of Grafton and the
Duke of Richmond, two illegitimate sons of King
Charles II of England.
He has a younger brother,
Prince Harry. His father's second wife, formerly his mistress
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, is their stepmother, giving the princes a step-brother,
Tom Parker Bowles, and step-sister,
Laura Lopes.
On
1st March (
St. David's Day)
1991, 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 scar is still visible today.
The prince has been a keen fan of the
Aston Villa football (soccer) club since childhood.
Death of Diana, Princess of Wales
On
31 August 1997 Prince William's mother, Diana, and her companion,
Dodi Al-Fayed, were 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 the 9th
Earl Spencer to 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 or of
Diana's mother before her death.
Prince William has been educated entirely in the
English public school system. He attended the Mrs
Jane Mynors' nursery school and the pre-prep
Wetherby School both in West London, and later attended
Ludgrove School in Berkshire, a
preparatory school. After passing an entrance exam he went on to attend
Eton College in
Berkshire. Whilst there he studied
geography,
biology and
history of art at
A-level. The prince is
left-handed.
Like a growing number of British
teenagers, Prince William chose to take a
gap year after finishing
Eton College. He took part in
British Army training 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.
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 gained 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.
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 to 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 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.
As with many of his predecessors, Prince William has chosen to serve in the
Armed Forces. Following his education and officer training at Sandhurst, he has expressed a desire to serve as an active soldier and to fight on the frontline. 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.
Future
As the eldest son of the
Prince of Wales, it is currently expected that William will ascend the throne of the United Kingdom, as well as those of the other
Commonwealth Realms. If William decides to use his first name as his regal name, he will be known as King William V. However, William is free to use any one of his christian names to reign by, as
Prince Albert Edward in 1901 and
Prince Albert in 1936 both did. Like his mother, William is said to possess a strong dislike for excessive royal
protocol, and desires greater personal independence.
William's love life has been the subject of much conjecture. Over the years, many young and eligible women have been romantically linked to the prince through speculation, even popstar
Britney Spears at one point. Media have reported his relationship with
Kate Middleton, formerly one of his university flatmates, which began in 2004. She has been seen in royal circles but there has been no official statement. Periodically, rumours of an imminent royal wedding or engagement circulate,
although the couple stress they have no plans to marry in the near future.
Prince William is styled as a
Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with the style
His Royal Highness. As the eldest son of the future monarch, it is likely that he will be created
Prince of Wales after his father's accession, although this is not automatic. (Should his father predecease Queen Elizabeth II, leaving William as first-in-line to the throne, William may well be created Prince of Wales in his own right directly.) He will, however, automatically become
Duke of Cornwall in the event of his father's accession (but not if his father predeceases Queen Elizabeth II). 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 Queen Elizabeth may award to Prince William in the future.
On his 18th birthday, Prince William was granted his own personalised
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.
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, though 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.
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Royal William, a German red rose named after Prince William shortly after his birth.
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British prince*
Royal.gov.uk- Prince William*
Prince of Wales.gov.uk- Prince William*
Illustrated biography of Prince William
