William, Prince of Wales

William, Prince of Wales, (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 his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales.

Born in London, William was educated at Wetherby School, Ludgrove School and Eton College. He earned a Scottish Master of Arts degree in geography at the University of St Andrews. William then trained at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst prior to serving with the Blues and Royals. In April 2008, William graduated from Royal Air Force College Cranwell, joining 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 King. He holds patronage with over 30 charitable and military organisations, including the Tusk Trust, Centrepoint, and London's Air Ambulance Charity. He undertakes projects through The Royal Foundation, with his charity work revolving around mental health, conservation, and emergency workers. In December 2014, he founded the "United for Wildlife" initiative, which aims to reduce worldwide illegal wildlife trade. In April 2016, William, his wife Catherine and his brother Harry initiated the mental health awareness campaign "Heads Together" to encourage people to open up about their mental health issues. In October 2020, William announced the launch of the Earthshot Prize, a £50 million initiative to incentivise environmental solutions over the next decade.

William was made Duke of Cambridge prior to his marriage to Catherine Middleton in 2011. The couple have three children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. 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, a title reserved for the heir apparent of the monarch.

Early life

Prince William was born in London at St Mary's Hospital on 21 June 1982 as the first child of the Prince of Wales (later King Charles III) and his first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, during the reign of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. Buckingham Palace announced his name, William Arthur Philip Louis, on 28 June. On 4 August, the 82nd birthday of his paternal great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, he was baptised in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie. William had six godparents: former King Constantine II of Greece (his paternal second cousin once removed); Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Mrs Ogilvy (his paternal first cousin twice removed); the Duchess of Westminster; Lady Susan Hussey; Lord Romsey (his paternal second cousin once removed); and Sir Laurens van der Post.

He was the first child born to a Prince and Princess of Wales since Prince John was born to Prince George and Princess Mary (later King George V and Queen Mary) in 1905. When he was nine months old, William accompanied his parents on their 1983 tour of Australia and New Zealand, as his first trip overseas. William's younger brother, Prince Harry, was born in 1984. William and Harry were raised at Kensington Palace in London, and Highgrove House in Gloucestershire. Known informally as "Wills" within the family, William was nicknamed "Wombat" by his mother, who wished him and his brother to obtain broader life experiences than those usually available to royal children. She took them to Walt Disney World and McDonald's, AIDS clinics, shelters for the homeless, and bought them items typically owned by teenagers, such as video games. Diana was reported to have described William as "my little wise old man" on whom she started to rely as her confidant by his early teens. William and Harry travelled to Canada on an official visit with their parents in 1991 and again with Prince Charles in 1998.

William's parents divorced in 1996. Diana died in a car accident in the early hours of 31 August 1997. William, then aged 15, together with his 12-year-old brother and their father, was staying at Balmoral Castle at the time. William and Harry were informed of their mother's death by their father Prince Charles, the following morning. At his mother's funeral, William and his brother walked alongside their father, paternal grandfather Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and maternal uncle Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, behind the funeral cortège from Kensington Palace to Westminster Abbey.

Education

William was educated at independent schools, starting at Jane Mynors' nursery school and the pre-preparatory Wetherby School, both in London. Following this, he attended Ludgrove School near Wokingham, Berkshire, and was privately tutored during summers by Rory Stewart. At Ludgrove, he participated in football, swimming, basketball, clay pigeon shooting, and cross country running. He sat the entrance exam to Eton College and was admitted. There, he studied geography, biology, and history of art at A-Level, obtaining an 'A' in geography, a 'C' in biology, and a 'B' in history of art. Having already swum competitively at Ludgrove, he became captain of the swimming team at Eton. He also took up water polo and continued to play football, captaining his house team.

The decision to place William at Eton went against the family tradition of sending royal children to Gordonstoun, which his grandfather, father, two uncles, and two cousins all attended. Diana's father and brother both attended Eton. 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, said of the arrangement, "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."

After completing his studies at Eton, William took a gap year, during which he took part in British Army training exercises in Belize, worked on English dairy farms, and visited Africa. As part of the Raleigh International programme in the town of Tortel in southern Chile, for ten weeks William worked on local construction projects and taught English. He lived with other young volunteers, sharing in the common household chores—including cleaning the toilet—and also volunteered as a guest disc jockey at a local radio station. His interest in African culture prompted him to teach himself Swahili.

By 2001, William was back in the United Kingdom and had enrolled at the University of St Andrews. Similar to his time at Eton, the media agreed not to invade William's privacy, and students were warned not to leak stories about him to the press. The extra attention did not deter him; he embarked on a degree course in Art History, later changing his main subject to Geography. William wrote his dissertation on the coral reefs of Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean and graduated with an undergraduate Master of Arts (MA Hons) degree with upper second class honours in 2005. While at university, he represented the Scottish national universities water polo team at the Celtic Nations tournament in 2004. He was known as "Steve" by other students to avoid any journalists overhearing and realising his identity. William returned to St Andrews alongside his wife in February 2011 as patron of the university's 600th Anniversary Appeal.

Upon graduation from university, William interned in land management at Chatsworth House and in banking at HSBC. To prepare for his eventual management of the Duchy of Cornwall, in 2014, he enrolled in a vocational agricultural management course at Cambridge, which was organised by the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL), of which his father is patron. According to a CNN report in 2014, the duchy is "a £760 million (about US$1.25 billion) entity established in 1337 to provide a private income for use by the reigning monarch's eldest son", which William inherited when his father became king in 2022.

Military and air ambulance service

Military training and secondments

Having decided to follow a military career, William was admitted to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in January 2006. As "Lieutenant Wales"—a name based on his father's title Prince of Wales—he followed his younger brother into the Blues and Royals as a troop commander in an armoured reconnaissance unit, after which he spent five months training for the post at Bovington Camp, Dorset.

William's position as second-in-line to the throne at the time and the convention of ministers advising against placing that person into dangerous situations cast doubts on his chances of seeing combat, which increased after Prince Harry's deployment was cancelled in 2007 due to "specific threats". William, instead, went on to train in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, obtaining his commission as a sub-lieutenant in the former and flying officer in the latter—both broadly equivalent to the army rank of lieutenant.

After completing his training, William undertook an attachment with the Royal Air Force at RAF Cranwell. Upon completing the course he was presented with his RAF wings by his father, who had received his own wings after training at Cranwell. During this secondment, William flew to Afghanistan in a C-17 Globemaster that repatriated the body of Trooper Robert Pearson. William was then seconded to train with the Royal Navy. He completed an accelerated Naval Officer training course at the Britannia Royal Naval College. Whilst serving on HMS ''Iron Duke'' in June 2008, William participated in a £40m drug seizure in the Atlantic, north-east of Barbados. He was a part of the crew on the Lynx helicopter which helped seize 900 kg of cocaine from a speedboat.

Royal Air Force service

In January 2009, William transferred his commission to the RAF and was promoted to Flight Lieutenant. He trained to become a helicopter pilot with the RAF's Search and Rescue Force. In January 2010, he graduated from the Defence Helicopter Flying School at RAF Shawbury. On 26 January 2010, he transferred to the Search and Rescue Training Unit at RAF Valley, Anglesey, to receive training on the Sea King search and rescue helicopter; he graduated in September 2010. This made him the first member of the British royal family since Henry VII to live in Wales.

William's first rescue mission as co-pilot of an RAF Sea King was a response to an emergency call from Liverpool Coastguard on 2 October 2010. In November 2011, he participated in a search-and-rescue mission involving a cargo ship that was sinking in the Irish Sea; William, as a co-pilot, helped rescue two sailors.

William was deployed to the Falkland Islands for a six-week tour with No. 1564 Flight from February to March 2012. The Argentine government condemned William's deployment to the islands close to the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the Falklands War as a "provocative act". In June 2012, Prince William gained a qualification to be captain or pilot in command of a Sea King rather than a co-pilot. His active service as an RAF search-and-rescue pilot ended in September 2013. He later became patron to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Air ambulance pilot

In 2014, it was announced that William would accept a full-time role as a pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) based at Cambridge Airport. Despite his qualifications as a military helicopter pilot, William needed a civil pilot's licence and further training before being permitted to take command of the Air Ambulance. Although his position was paid, Kensington Palace announced that William would donate his full salary to the EAAA charity. He underwent part of his training as an EAAA pilot at Norwich Airport. On 13 July 2015, William started his new job, which he felt was a natural progression from his previous role as an RAF search-and-rescue pilot. William described working irregular shifts and dealing mostly with critical care cases. He also publicly discussed the consequences, witnessing intensive trauma and bereavement as an emergency worker, stating that it impacted his mental health and personal life. The BBC has written that William was "exposed to the National Health Service in a way that no other senior royal has been or possibly ever will be."

William left his position with EAAA in July 2017 to assume full-time royal duties on behalf of his grandmother. After supporting an anniversary campaign for London's Air Ambulance Charity in 2019, he became the charity's official patron in March 2020. In May 2020, he granted permission to the charity to use Kensington Palace's private lawn to refuel during the COVID-19 pandemic. To mark Air Ambulance Week 2020, he wrote a letter thanking air ambulance workers, stating his "profound respect" for the community, particularly during the "immeasurably difficult" outbreak, and stated that "the country owes you an enormous debt of gratitude."

Personal life

Bachelorhood

In 2001, William met Catherine Middleton while they were students in residence at St Salvator's Hall at the University of St Andrews. She reportedly caught William's attention at a charity fashion show on campus. The couple began dating in 2003. During their second year, William shared a flat with Middleton and two other friends. From 2003 to 2005, they both resided at Balgove House on the Strathtyrum estate with two roommates. In 2004, the couple briefly split but continued their relationship soon afterwards.

Their relationship was followed so closely by the tabloid press that bookmakers took bets on the possibility of marriage, and the retail chain Woolworths produced memorabilia bearing their likenesses. Media attention became so intense that William asked the press to keep their distance from Middleton. On 15 December 2006, Middleton attended Prince William's Passing Out Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

In April 2007, William and Middleton ended their relationship. Middleton and her family attended the Concert for Diana in July 2007 at Wembley Stadium, where she and Prince William sat two rows apart. The couple were subsequently seen together in public on a number of occasions and news sources stated that they had "rekindled their relationship". Middleton was in attendance during the Order of the Garter procession ceremony at Windsor Castle in June 2008, where Prince William was made a Royal Knight of the Garter. In June 2010, the couple moved into a cottage on the Bodorgan Estate in Anglesey, Wales, where William resided during his RAF search-and-rescue training and subsequent career.

Marriage and children

On 16 November 2010, Clarence House announced that William and Catherine were to marry; the couple had become engaged in Kenya in October. The engagement ring given by William to Catherine had belonged to his mother. The wedding took place in Westminster Abbey, London, on 29 April 2011. A few hours before the ceremony, William's new titles Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, and Baron Carrickfergus were announced. The global audience for the wedding was estimated to be 300 million or more, with 26 million people watching the event live in the United Kingdom alone. The couple were given the country home, Anmer Hall, on the Sandringham Estate, as a wedding gift from the Queen. Following their marriage in 2011, William and Catherine used Nottingham Cottage as their London residence. They moved into the four-storey, 20-room Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace in 2013. The £4.5 million renovation took 18 months. Kensington Palace became the couple's main residence in 2017, moving from their country home, Anmer Hall. In 2022, it was announced that the couple, along with their children, would move to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor.

Catherine's first pregnancy was announced on 3 December 2012. She was admitted on 22 July 2013 to the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital, London, where Prince William had been delivered. Later that day, she gave birth to Prince George. On 8 September 2014, it was announced that Catherine was pregnant with her second child. She was admitted on 2 May 2015 to the same hospital and gave birth to Princess Charlotte. Catherine's third pregnancy was announced on 4 September 2017; Prince Louis was born on 23 April 2018.

William and Catherine have owned two English Cocker Spaniels, named Lupo and Orla. William is the godfather of Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece and Denmark (b. 1998), a distant relation through his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, and Mia Tindall (b. 2014), the eldest child of his paternal cousin, Zara Tindall.

Wealth and inheritance

William and his brother Harry inherited the "bulk" of the £12.9 million left by their mother on their respective 30th birthdays, a figure that had grown since her 1997 death to £10 million each in 2014. In 2002, ''The Times'' reported that William would also share with his brother a payment of £4.9 million from trust funds established by their great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, on their respective 21st birthdays and would share a payment of £8 million upon their respective 40th birthdays. It was reported that Harry would inherit the bulk of the money left by the Queen Mother for the two brothers, as William is set to ascend to the throne which will bring him more financial benefits. As the eldest son of the King, William has inherited the Duchy of Cornwall, which brings him an additional income.

In 2014, the brothers inherited their mother's wedding dress along with many other of her personal possessions including dresses, diamond tiaras, jewels, letters, and paintings. The brothers also received the original lyrics and score of " Candle in the Wind" by Bernie Taupin and Elton John as performed by John at Diana's funeral.

Health

On 3 June 1991, William was admitted to 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. News of this incident spread quickly and media reporters descended on Ludgrove School to seek the name of the boy who had swung the golf club, but nobody divulged the name after the headmaster briefed his pupils and swore them to silence. In a 2009 interview, he dubbed the resulting scar a "Harry Potter scar" and said, "I call it that because it glows sometimes and some people notice it—other times they don't notice it at all". In 1999, he underwent an operation on his left hand after he broke a finger.

On 1 November 2020, it was reported that William had tested positive for COVID-19 in April but decided not to alert the media to 'avoid alarming the nation'. ''The Daily Telegraph'' reported he had been "very ill" and had isolated away from his family; other sources say that he had not been seriously ill, not bed-ridden and working for most of the time.

Public life

At the age of 21, William was appointed a Counsellor of State; he first served in that capacity when the Queen attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2003. On his 21st birthday, William accompanied his father on a visit to Wales, visiting the Anglesey Food Festival and opening a centre for the homeless in Newport. Upon graduating from university, William began royal duties in support of, and on behalf of, the Queen at official events, public engagements, and overseas tours. In July 2005, he embarked on his first solo overseas tour, travelling to New Zealand to participate in World War II commemorations. For the 30th anniversary of his father's charity The Prince's Trust, William and his brother were jointly interviewed for the first time by television personalities Ant & Dec. According to author Tina Brown, he had, like his father, expressed a desire to become Governor-General of Australia