William, Prince of Wales
William, Prince of Wales KG, KT, PC, ADC (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982), is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales.
"Prince William" and "Prince William of the United Kingdom" redirect here. For other uses, see Prince William (disambiguation) and William of the United Kingdom (disambiguation).William
William was born during the reign of his paternal grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. He was educated at Wetherby School, Ludgrove School and Eton College. He earned a Master of Arts degree in geography at the University of St Andrews where he met his future wife, Catherine Middleton. They have three children: George, Charlotte and Louis. After university, William trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst prior to serving with the Blues and Royals. In 2008 William graduated from the Royal Air Force College Cranwell, joining the RAF Search and Rescue Force in early 2009. He served as a full-time pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance for two years, starting in July 2015.
William performs official duties and engagements on behalf of the monarch. He holds patronage with over 30 charitable and military organisations, including the Tusk Trust, Centrepoint, The Passage, Wales Air Ambulance and London's Air Ambulance Charity. He undertakes projects through the Royal Foundation, with his charity work revolving around mental health, conservation, homelessness and emergency workers. In 2020 William launched the Earthshot Prize, a £50 million initiative to incentivise environmental solutions over the next decade.
William was made Duke of Cambridge immediately before his wedding in April 2011. He became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay following his father's accession to the throne on 8 September 2022. The following day he was made Prince of Wales.
Education
William was educated at private schools, starting at Jane Mynors' nursery school and the pre-preparatory Wetherby School, both in London.[30] Following this, he attended Ludgrove School near Wokingham, Berkshire, and was privately tutored during summers by Rory Stewart.[31] At Ludgrove, he participated in football, swimming, basketball, clay pigeon shooting, and cross country running. He was subsequently admitted to Eton College, studying geography, biology, and history of art at A-Level. He obtained an 'A' in geography, a 'C' in biology, and a 'B' in history of art.[32][33][34] William was captain of the swimming team and his house football team at Eton, also taking up water polo.[35][36]
The decision to place William at Eton went against the family tradition of sending royal children to Gordonstoun, which his father and grandfather both attended. Diana's brother and father were both Eton students.[17] The royal family and the tabloid press agreed that William would be allowed to study free from intrusion in exchange for regular updates about his life. John Wakeham, chairman of the Press Complaints Commission, stated "Prince William is not an institution; nor a soap star; nor a football hero. He is a boy: in the next few years, perhaps the most important and sometimes painful part of his life, he will grow up and become a man."[17] While at Eton, he often had tea on weekends at the nearby Windsor Castle with his grandmother, discussing state boxes and constitutional duties meant to "prepare [him] as future King."[37][38]
In June 1991, William was admitted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital after being accidentally hit on the forehead by a fellow pupil wielding a golf club. He suffered a depressed fracture of the skull and was operated on at Great Ormond Street Hospital, resulting in a permanent scar.[39] The incident received widespread media attention.[35] In 1999, he underwent an operation on his left hand after he broke a finger.[40] After completing his studies at Eton, William took a gap year, during which he took part in British Army training exercises in Belize,[41] worked on English dairy farms, and visited Africa.[42] As part of the Raleigh International programme in the town of Tortel in southern Chile, William worked for ten weeks on local construction projects and taught English. He lived with other young volunteers, sharing in the common household chores.[41] His interest in African culture prompted him to teach himself Swahili.[43]
In 2001, William enrolled at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.[44][45] Similar to his time at Eton, the media agreed not to invade his privacy, and students were warned not to leak stories to the press.[46] William embarked on a degree course in Art History but later changed his main subject to Geography. He focused his dissertation on the Indian Ocean's Rodrigues coral reefs and graduated with an undergraduate Master of Arts (MA Hons) degree with upper second class honours in 2005.[47][48][49] While at university, he represented the Scottish national universities water polo team at the Celtic Nations tournament in 2004.[36] He was reportedly known as "Steve" by other students to avoid any journalists overhearing and realising his identity.[50]
Privacy and the media
The death of William's mother while being chased by the paparazzi in August 1997[331] has since influenced his attitude towards the media.[332] William and Catherine have often requested that, when off-duty, their privacy should be respected.[332] In 2005 William spoke with ITV reporter Tom Bradby and concluded that it was likely that their voicemails were being accessed.[333] An investigation under then Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke concluded that the compromised voice mail accounts belonged to William's aides, including Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton,[334] and not the prince himself.[335] However, Clive Goodman later stated that he had hacked William's phone on 35 occasions.[336] William later sued News Group Newspapers, publisher of News of the World and The Sun, which resulted in an out-of-court settlement in 2020.[337] He and his brother Harry brought a claim privately through their mutual attorneys, but Harry later pursued his case separately with a new solicitor.[337][338]
In 2005, after his then-girlfriend Catherine Middleton was chased by the paparazzi on her way to a job interview, William consulted Middleton and her father and wrote a legal letter to newspapers requesting that they respect her privacy.[339] As media attention increased around the time of Middleton's 25th birthday in January 2007, he issued a public statement mentioning that "the situation is proving unbearable for all those concerned."[340] In October 2007, William issued a public statement via his press secretary complaining about the "aggressive pursuit" by "photographers on motorcycles, in vehicles and on foot" while the couple were leaving a London nightclub and later driving in his car.[341] Following the statement, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, and Daily Express all decided against using the paparazzi photos of the couple, but The Sun published photos taken before the couple's car had left.[341] The statement prompted the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) to issue a warning, asking editors not to publish photographs which were taken through harassment.[341] In April 2009, William's lawyers obtained an apology from The Daily Star after the tabloid had claimed he had "wrecked" a $2m plane during pilot training.[342]
In September 2012, the French edition of Closer and Italian gossip magazine Chi published photographs of Catherine sun-bathing topless while on holiday at the Château d'Autet in Provence.[332] Analysts from The Times believed the photographs were taken from the D22 (Vaucluse) road half a kilometre from the pool – a distance that would require an 800-mm or a 1000-mm lens.[343] In September 2012, William and Catherine filed a criminal complaint with the French prosecution department and launched a claim for civil damages at the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Nanterre.[344] The following day the courts granted an injunction against Closer prohibiting further publication of the photographs and announced that a criminal investigation would be initiated.[345] Under French law, punitive damages cannot be awarded[346] but intrusions of privacy are a criminal offence.[347][348] In September 2017, Closer was fined €100,000 and its editor Laurence Pieau and owner Ernesto Mauri were each fined €45,000.[349]
In October 2014, William and Catherine sent a legal letter to a freelance photographer who had put their son George and his nanny "under surveillance", asking the individual to stop "harassing and following" them.[350] In August 2015, Kensington Palace published a letter detailing what it stated were the "dangerous" and invasive efforts of the media to get paparazzi pictures of Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Jason Knauf, communications secretary to the couple, wrote the letter to media standards organisations in various countries.[351]
In November 2016, William issued a statement supporting Prince Harry and his then-girlfriend, Meghan Markle, following their complaints about the press intrusion, stating that he "understands the situation concerning privacy and supports the need for Prince Harry to support those closest to him."[352] In November 2018 during a visit to the BBC studios in central London, he publicly criticised the social media firms' approach to handling "misinformation and conspiracy" and added, "Their self-image is so grounded in their positive power for good that they seem unable to engage in constructive discussion about the social problems they are creating".[353]
In June 2022, a three-minute video of William confronting Terry Harris, a paparazzi photographer, was posted on Harris' YouTube channel.[354] It was recorded by Harris in January 2021 and shows William arguing with Harris as the latter attempts to film William's family on a bike ride near Anmer Hall.[355] Kensington Palace described the video as a breach of the family's privacy and asked for it to be removed from public websites.[355] William and Catherine's lawyers also contacted the photographer, who claimed he was on public roads and had filmed the video after hearing about allegations that the couple had broken the "rule of six" as they toured a public attraction at Sandringham while William's uncle and aunt, then Earl and Countess of Wessex, and their children happened to be in the same spot.[354]
Standard for the Duke of Cambridge
Standard for the Earl of Strathearn
Former Canadian personal Standard for Prince William
