Heir to throne best known for fighting his royal fate

By Ellen Hale
USA Today

TETBURY, England — On a fine sunny day last weekend, Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, strolled the grounds of the Beaufort Polo Club chatting up guests who came to watch him play. Lurking about but never showing his face was the first-born of the first-born — the magnetically handsome future king, hope of the British monarchy and the commonwealth's most reluctant royal.

Prince William was photographed lounging on a pier at St. Andrews in Scotland, where he is halfway into a four-year degree in art history. Associated Press library photo

Beyond that, however, the eventual heir to the throne has made it clear he's not yet ready for a duty-bound life.

"William is determined to delay the inevitable as long as he can, and so he plays the game to the minimum," said Ingrid Seward, editor of the London-based magazine Majesty and a confidante of both his parents. Seward's book "William & Harry," which chronicles the turbulent and often heart-wrenching upbringing of the heir and his "spare," goes on sale in the United States this week.

For the many who would like to see the monarchy leapfrog Prince Charles and move straight to his elder son, there is ample evidence William wants anything but. He refuses public appearances unless at his father's side, and could not be coaxed into hosting a pop concert for his birthday that sponsors had hoped would raise $800,000 for a new charity in his name. A private party at Windsor Castle will mark his birthday.

Looking for a way out

According to reports, William has requested that his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, delay awarding him titles and honors, and that he remain known as William Wales. (His father, at 21, was His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Lord of the Isles and Baron of Renfrew, among other titles.) He reportedly has told friends he is even considering moving to America, perhaps for graduate school, where he might be able to live more anonymously.

Sheltered all his life from the royalty-obsessed British press, William has provided few clues as to what kind of monarch — or man — he might become. There's little question he may be the most handsome in the 1,000-year reign of British sovereigns, many of whom have inclined toward the homely.

But the handful of personal accounts that have squeaked out also reveal a stubborn young man determined to cast some control over a fate scripted long before his birth. In an interview two weeks ago, the prince spoke of his love of Africa, where he spent part of his "gap" year after high school, and yearning to learn more about it. There was no mention of that traditional training ground for monarchs-in-waiting: the military.

The "landmark" interview set out what the young prince "wants the world to know in terms of his personal desires in life," said Harold Brooks-Baker, publishing director of Burke's Peerage, the bible of British nobility.

Palace courtiers apparently have other ideas. It is widely rumored they will push him toward a stint in the army, likely with the Welsh Guards, after graduation in 2005.

When he might ascend to the throne is also a matter of considerable discussion. On her coronation 50 years ago this month, the 77-year-old queen took a holy vow to rule until death or incapacitation. Given the Windsors' disposition for longevity, Elizabeth could serve 15 more years. Charles, 54, might rule another 15 years.

Whether William succeeds in taking an alternative route to the throne will be a test of his strong-mindedness. Observers say the mulish streak comes from his mother, Princess Diana, whose death in a traffic accident six years ago with her lover, Dodi Fayed, shocked the world and left behind two young sons whose childhoods were whipsawed by their parents' acrimonious marital tug of war.

Best of both parents

Always a sensitive child, William is slow to trust, according to those who know him. His aversion to the media borders on pathological, rooted perhaps in Diana's repeated mantra to him that they are "bad, bad men," according to Seward.

But William also inherited the best of both parents, said Seward. He is known for a fast wit and wicked talent for mimicry, like his mother. He is said to be smart, inquisitive and socially concerned. He was one of the first royals to earn his way into school by grades instead of bloodlines. And like Charles, William is also tight with a pound.

But compared with his father — who had a valet at age 2 and still has toothpaste squeezed onto the brush for him — William leads an unpampered life. At St. Andrews, he shops for groceries and zips around town in his black VW Golf. No one blinks when he drops by Ma Bells, the college hangout, for a cider. He likes garage and techno music, and is usually seen dressed in jeans, crumpled shirts and holey sweaters.

He also fessed up to being a "country boy at heart." After a rocky first term at St. Andrews, where he majors in art history, Prince William apparently has found freedom and privacy in the little coastal town where golf was born. A gentlemen's agreement keeps the media at bay while he attends college. And while he may be recognized by townspeople, he says, he is never bothered.

Top bachelor

The world's No. 1 catch also has been discreet about his romantic endeavors, as have his dates.

"Why would anyone want me?" he has moaned to friends (although royal experts say the requirement that he marry a virgin is likely to be dropped before he is king).

Some of the country's most beautiful high-born girls have been linked to William. Among them: Amanda Bush, personal assistant to the woman who runs the Beaufort Polo Club, and Arabella Musgrave, a polo-loving public relations woman said to have been his first serious girlfriend.

The betting, however, is on Kate Middleton, a dark-haired beauty with whom he shares a flat along with another student. She is expected to be at next Friday's birthday party, as is Camilla Parker Bowles, Charles' longtime companion and the woman Diana accused of destroying her marriage.

Also on his guest list, to the consternation of his father's side of the family: his mother's side of the family. Insiders say Prince William's insistence that the feuding families meet reflects his desire to find as much peace and normalcy as possible for a man whose face will grace billions of coins and post boatloads of letters some day.

But any such hope will prove pointless, however.

"For 25 years or more, he'll have to live the straight and narrow, pick the right career path, placate the British press, not cash in. And then there's the whole issue of creating a happy marriage. He doesn't stand a fighting chance of leading a normal life," said royals biographer Robert Lacey.

"This dreadful life sentence was conferred on him the moment he was born."