William, Prince of Wales

• Born: June 21, 1982
• Birthplace: London, England

William, Prince of Wales is first in line to the British throne. He was preceded as heir to the throne by his father, King Charles III, who ascended the throne following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022. William was an active duty search-and-rescue pilot and later an air-ambulance pilot. He serves the royal family as spokesperson for various charities serving the homeless, those in the armed forces and those struggling with mental illness, and wildlife conservation and community development in Africa.

Background

Prince William Arthur Philip Louis was born on August 4, 1982, in London, England. His parents were Diana, the Princess of Wales , and Charles, the Prince of Wales. He was educated at Mrs. Jane Mynors' nursery school (1985–87), the Wetherby School in London (1987–90), Ludgrove School (1990–95), and Eton College (1995–2000). His attendance at Eton followed his mother’s family tradition, as that was the school attended by both her father, Lord Spencer, and brother. Eton was a departure for the royal family, as both Prince Phillip (husband of Queen Elizabeth II ) and Prince Charles had been educated at Gordonstoun in northeast Scotland.

While at Eton, William experienced the very public decline of his parents’ marriage, which provided fodder for the press throughout the early 1990s. Princess Diana was said to have cooperated with biographer Andrew Morton, who penned Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words (1992). The book detailed the princess’s struggle with bulimia, her suicide attempts, and her knowledge of her husband’s affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles (who later became Prince Charles's second wife). The couple suffered several more embarrassing revelations in the press before their divorce in 1996. In 1997, Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris, France, along with her boyfriend, Dodi al-Fayed, and their driver. William was only fifteen years old, and his brother twelve.

Her death was a great loss to her two sons, as Princess Diana was said to have been an unusual royal parent, taking a more active role in their upbringing than had her predecessors, and insisting that her children experience many of the joys of "normal children." She tried to align her schedule with theirs, picked them up from school when possible, and took them to amusement parks and fast food restaurants. She also made a point of educating her sons about the lives of people who were not royals. She familiarized them with her various charities and raised them with a sense of humility and obligation to help others.

After leaving Eton in 2000, William spent a "gap year" (a postgraduate year) gaining experience outside of the classroom. He chose to spend some time training for the Welsh Guards in Belize, doing construction in Chile, and working on a dairy farm in England.

Following his gap year, William enrolled at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He began by studying art history and switched his focus to geography after his second year. William graduated from St. Andrews in 2005, earning a master’s degree in geography.

Military Career

William has performed royal duties since childhood, but it was only after his graduation from university that he assumed a more active role in the royal family. In 2005, he traveled to New Zealand to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of World War II. He also gained some insight into the business world, working as an intern at global financial company HSBC and studying land management at Chatsworth House, a classic English manor house in Derbyshire.

His participation in these royal duties was curtailed, though, when he entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in January 2006. He received his commission as a second lieutenant in the British Army’s Household Cavalry (also known as the Blues and Royals) in December of that year. He spent four months at Bovington Camp in Dorset while training, joining his younger brother, Harry, who was also a troop commander. He was trained in the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force (RAF), and was expected to leave the armed forces after three years.

In 2008, it was announced that William would pursue active duty in the RAF. He transferred from the army to the RAF and began training as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot. Because of their positions as heir to the throne, both princes Harry and William had to be cleared for certain active duty roles, as their participation in missions might draw unwanted attention to a particular action and put others in danger. There was also their personal obligation to their country as future leaders—they must make decisions that balance their desire to serve and their royal duties. In September 2010, William graduated as a search-and-rescue pilot in the RAF, with the rank of lieutenant.

Over the next three years, William conducted more than 150 operations and was deployed to the Falkland Islands, a contested, British-held territory off the coast of South America. He left the RAF and, unusually, became a civilian pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance. He spent more than two years, from early 2015 to mid-2017, completing nearly one thousand emergency response flights.

Charitable Duty

William and his brother formed their own foundation in 2009. Originally called the Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry (later renamed the Royal Foundation), it focused on helping young people, building awareness of those persons serving in the armed forces, and developing sustainability models that address the challenges of climate change and the shortage of natural resources. Palliative care, addiction, cyberbullying, and wildlife conservation were among the other issues their foundation sought to address.

One cause of special concern to William was mental health. In 2016 he, his brother, and his wife launched Heads Together, a Royal Foundation mental-health campaign to promote awareness and openness about mental illnesses and combat stigmas related to it. As part of this campaign, William publicly talked about his own mental health challenges as a result of his emergency ambulance experience and the loss of his mother at a young age.

In June 2019 the brothers went their separate ways, with William and Catherine continuing to manage the Royal Foundation and Harry and his wife establishing their own nonprofit entity. They pledged to work together on Heads Together and future projects.

William also remained active in several of his mother’s charities, including Centrepoint, a homeless charity. He was a patron of dozens of organizations, including the Tusk Trust, a charity that seeks to preserve wildlife in Africa, and the Henry Van Straubenzee Memorial Fund, which supports schools in Uganda. He was also the president of the Football Association, which governs English football (soccer).

As a senior royal, William continued during the early 2020s to make official visits both around the country and overseas, welcome foreign dignitaries, present medals to award recipients, and engage in philanthropic pursuits, among other royal duties. In 2020, he founded the Earthshot Prize, an international prize awarded to recipients who provide innovative solutions to environmental challenges facing the planet. In support of his mental health work, William launched the Blue Light Together initiative in 2021 to support the mental health of emergency workers.

On September 8, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II died at the age of ninety-six. After his father ascended the throne as King Charles III, William became heir to the throne. He issued a statement after his grandmother's funeral, acknowledging his gratitude for "The Queen's wisdom and reassurance" throughout his life.

Personal Life

In November 2010, the royal family announced that William was engaged to Catherine "Kate" Middleton, his college girlfriend. The two met while at the University of St. Andrews and began dating in 2003. After a short breakup in 2007, the couple reunited later that same year, and Catherine was granted police protection.

The couple had three children: George (b. 2013), Charlotte (b. 2015), and Louis (b. 2018). Their children became the next in line for the British throne. They reside at Kensington Palace and often visit their home at Sandringham Estate in Norfolk.

Bibliography

Andersen, Christopher P. After Diana: William, Harry, Charles, and the Royal House of Windsor. Hyperion, 2007.

The Prince of Wales. The Royal Household, www.royal.uk/the-prince-of-wales. Accessed28 Oct. 2022.

“History.” Royal Foundation, 6 May 2020, royalfoundation.com/our-history. Accessed 21 July 2020. ‌

“Prince William Speaks about ‘Traumatic’ Air Ambulance Callouts.” BBC News, 20 Nov. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-46279724. Accessed 21 July 2020. ‌

Sawer, Patrick, and Hannah Furness. “Princes William and Harry Admit They Never Spoke Properly about Their Mother’s Death.” The Telegraph, 21 Apr. 2017, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/21/princes-william-harry-admit-never-spoke-properly-mothers-death/. Accessed 29 Nov. 2018.