Latest news with #RobertLacey
Daily Mail
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Inside William's rocky start at St Andrews: From struggling to make friends to being pinched on the bottom by a desperate admirer - and REALLY missing his brother Harry, according to royal author
Prince William 's time at St Andrews University in Fife, Scotland could scarcely have got off to a worse start - and he had his family to thank for that. Cameras flashed and royal fans screamed as the 19-year-old prince walked through the streets of the seaside town to start his History of Art degree on September 24, 2001. So it is no surprise he arrived in a state of some anxiety. 'I think he was really nervous when he arrived,' Colleen Harris, Charles's press secretary, told Robert Lacey for his book Battle of Brothers. 'All the press were there - cameras from all over the world - and it suddenly hit him. He was very unsteady for a while after that.' Fresh from his gap year, William, who only recognised one or two boys from Eton, instantly felt alone in the small Scottish town. With just three main streets - North Street, Market Street and South Street, the future king had not quite anticipated how 'boring' St Andrews would be. To add salt to the wound, a desperate female admirer pinched William's bottom as he nursed a drink at a local bar soon after his arrival. 'He was not impressed,' said one final year student who witnessed the incident. The prince tried to busy himself with playing water polo and football on Wednesday afternoons. 'As the term progressed,' wrote Lacey, 'the winter weather soon grew cold, grey and austere, and he found it difficult to make new friends. 'He missed his brother too.' So the prince left the small university town as often as he could, with the media reporting that he only spent two of his first thirteen term-time weekends in St Andrews. Travelling more than four hours each way, William frequently visited Highgrove and London 'in search of a social life'. His course - History of Art - was not filling him with joy either. Over the Christmas holidays of his first year, William told his father he wanted to leave St Andrews altogether. William pays for stamps in a newsagents in St Andrews in 2003 'He was miserable,' wrote Lacey. 'He had had enough of small town life - and all the travel arrangements that he needed to escape it.' After asking his father if there was a possibility to transfer to the more 'cosmopolitan' University of Edinburgh, Charles put his private secretary Sir Stephen Lamport to work. But Lampart and the royal spin doctor Mark Bolland argued that William would be considered a 'quitter', much like his uncle Prince Edward when he opted out of the Royal Marines after just four months in 1987. Additionally, Lampart and Bolland believed that William's decision to withdraw from one of Scotland's top universities would be seen as a 'snub by the Scottish people', according to Lacey. 'It would have been a PR disaster for St Andrews if he had left after one term,' said Andrew Neil, the journalist and editor, who was the Lord Rector at St Andrews at the time. 'We worked very hard to keep him.' 'He got "the blues" - which happens. We have a lot of public-school boys who get up here, and by November when the weather gets grey and cold, wish they were back home. 'William was a long way from home and he wasn't happy,' he added. After a long heart-to-heart with Charles, William headed back to St Andrews after the Christmas break in 2001 with a new major in Geography. The prince swapped from a degree in History of Art to Geography 'I don't think I was homesick,' William later admitted. 'I was more daunted. My father was very understanding about it and realised I had the same problem as he had probably had. 'We chatted a lot and in the end we both realised - I definitely realised - that I had to come back.' But things started to look up for William when he met Kate Middleton. Both were residents of the same gothic-looking hall of residence St Salvator's - or St Sally's for short. Famously, the prince was in the audience on the night Kate walked the runway in a see-through slip at the university's charity fashion show. He turned to his friend Fergus Boyd and whispered: 'Wow, Kate's hot.' Not so famously, Kate had saved William from an awkward encounter weeks before the fashion show. Just a month or so into his first term, William was getting 'seriously hit-upon' by a pushy female student. Both William and Kate were residents of St Salvator's Hall - or St Sally's for short In season six of The Crown, Ed McVey plays a young Prince William while Meg Bellamy plays Kate Middleton Swooping in, Kate wrapped her arms around the prince. 'Oh sorry,' he told the girl, 'I have a girlfriend,' and he and Kate went off giggling together. William had also placed a £200 bid to win a date with Kate at a charity auction weeks before the fashion show. Ah - the epitome of romance! The pair, who ran in the same social circles, then agreed to move into a two-storey, top-floor apartment in the centre of St Andrews for £100 per week for their second year of university in 2003. As well as playing water polo and football, William would swim with Kate most mornings at the Old Course Hotel. Their blossoming romance intensified when Kate and Will moved to Balgove House near the famous St Andrews Golf Course for their third year. Offering more privacy than their previous accommodation, William and Kate hosted dinner parties from the four-bedroom property owned by one of William's distant cousins, with the well-prepared prince installing a champagne fridge as soon as they moved in. Their new digs also allowed them to take romantic walks amongst the two acres of wild grassland behind the privacy of a six-foot stone wall. It is understood William would take a picnic hamper and spend the afternoon with Kate relaxing on a blanket with a bottle of cold white wine. William and Kate then moved to Balgove House, on the private Strathtyrum Estate In March 2004, news of the couple's relationship finally broke as the pair were pictured together on a romantic ski getaway on the slopes at Klosters in Switzerland and William came under increasing pressure to disclose to the world's media his plans for marriage. With just a year to go until his graduation, the young prince shook off the shackles of his relationship to go on a 'boys only' sailing trip to Greece and, according to Lacey, the yacht was staffed by an all-female crew. Kate was understandably unimpressed and the pair broke up. But a friend of the prince's was happy to reveal to Lacey that William did not stop 'pining for Kate' after their split. 'He keeps saying she's an amazing girl and the best thing to happen to him.' Determined to get their relationship back on track, William took the romance up a notch. The couple often enjoyed a cider at Ma Bells, the prince's favourite pub which was the basement bar of the St Andrews Golf Hotel, and sat down to dinner at the popular curry house Jahangir, according to Hello Magazine. Venturing further afield, Kate and Will were also 'regular' customers of the award-winning Anstruther Fish Bar in the coastal town of Anstruther - a short drive from St Andrews. After four years at the top-rated Scottish university, both achieved an upper second class degree, William in Geography and Kate in History of Art. In a photo later released by the Middleton family, the couple posed in each other's arms on their graduation day on June 23, 2005, but at the ceremony itself, they were not seen together. However, the Vice Chancellor Brian Lang gave a speech that would prove prophetic for the couple. He told the audience, that included the late Queen, Prince Phillip, Camilla and William's father Charles: 'You will have made lifelong friends. You may have met your husband or wife. 'Our title as the top matchmaking university in Britain signifies so much that is good about St Andrews, so we rely on you to go forth and multiply.'
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Revealed: How Prince William went 'ballistic' after he was presented with a 'dossier of distress' documenting claims about Meghan Markle's treatment of staff
Prince William went 'ballistic' when he heard claims that Meghan Markle was being rude to staff in Kensington Palace. The bombshell allegations, uncovered in Robert Lacey's bestselling novel 'Battle of Brothers', reportedly caused a major fall out between William and Prince Harry.
Daily Mail
07-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Inside Prince William's careful plan to prepare George for his future role as King
To many royal watchers' surprise, Prince George made an unexpected appearance at a tea party to mark VE Day on Monday. The 11-year-old prince listened attentively to the veterans who were invited to Buckingham Palace and appeared genuinely interested in their stories from the war, often asking follow-up questions. It marked the young prince's first official function, leading royal correspondents to theorise that the Prince and Princess of Wales have carefully started to give George a 'small taste of his future duties as King'. George is currently second in line to the throne after his grandfather King Charles and father William - who previously said he would explain his son's duties to him when the time was right. 'As far as I'm concerned, within my family unit, we are a normal family,' he told the BBC 's Nicholas Witchell in 2016 when George was merely three years old. 'There will be a time and a place to bring George up and understand how he fits in the world but right now it's just a case of showing a secure stable environment around him.' With such a huge responsibility awaiting him, it is no surprise that William and Catherine want to prepare their son as best they can, something which they have been focussing more on in recent years, according to royal biographer Robert Lacey. In his book Battle of Brothers, Lacey - who acted as a historical consultant for The Crown - revealed that the Prince and Princess of Wales wanted to tell George about his destiny in a 'controlled moment of their choice'. The decision to carefully break the news to George that he would one day become King came after William's own 'unhappiness at the haphazard fashion in which the whole business of his royal destiny had bussed around his head from the start'. Although William has not revealed to the world how he broke the big news to his son, Lacey theorised it was 'sometimes around the boy's seventh birthday in the summer of 2020'. He penned: 'It is thought that his parents went into more detail about what the little prince's life of future royal "service and duty" would particularly involve.' It was important that George be told about his future role well before his 12th birthday, which will take place on July 22 this year, as from that point onwards, it is advised that the young prince does not travel on the same plane as his father to ensure the future of the monarchy. No matter when the delicate conversation took place, George proved he was ready to take on his destiny at the tea party on Monday. Sitting in a smart blue suit and tie alongside his father, the young prince spoke to 101-year-old Alfred Littlefield, who served during D-Day. Mr Littlefield, originally from Cosham near Portsmouth, recalled how he signed up to the Army aged 20, and joined the D-Day landings, bravely swimming into the Normandy beaches under heavy shell fire. Inquisitive George asked: 'What was it like when you were coming in?', to which Alfred replied: 'Pretty awful'. The young prince shook hands with the respected guests in attendance as he was joined by his parents 'You know, it's very important you are here today,' the accomplished veteran told the young prince. 'It's days like this that we should use to talk about things like this, so the younger generation can have some understanding.' Alfred later told William approvingly of his son: 'You should be very proud.' Further down the table, William and George also chatted with Dougie Hyde, 99, who joined the Merchant Navy in 1944, aged just 18. He started out working as a 'fireman' stoking boilers and later joined a secret operation to liberate Europe, spending months going back and forth to the beaches deploying munitions and amphibious vehicles. Displaying an avid interest, George asked the former seaman: 'Did you ever get shot at?' and 'Did you ever see a U-boat?' After their chat, Dougie said: 'I was very impressed with the lad's interest. 'He was very polite. Whenever I used to do talks to young kids, that's all you ever wanted, for them to listen and have a little understanding of those days. I think it's so important for us to remember.' William doted on his son, holding him by his shoulders as he joined his parents for the tea party Later on, the Princess of Wales was speaking to army veteran Charles Auborn, 99, from London who joined the war effort as an 18-year-old gunner. He told Catherine how he was deployed to Egypt before the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, joking how his officer's first words on his return to the UK were 'how are you boys for shorts?'. 'This is my son George I was telling you about,' she said, ushering the young prince to the table. As Mr Auborn showed George pictures of the M4 Sherman tanks he operated during the war, the young prince asked him 'Were they hard to operate? It must have been very tough with the weather.' Veterans gathered at Buckingham Palace to commemorate VE Day were surprised when Prince George strolled confidently into the room, followed by the Prince and Princess of Wales. The young royal, 11, was polite and listened attentively as he made an unexpected appearance at the tea party on Monday. Dressed in a smart suit with a blue tie, William and Catherine's eldest son beamed as he posed for photos with attendees and joined in conversation with guests. It was an unexpected appearance which the Daily Mail's Royal Editor Rebecca English said would provide 'the prince a small taste of his future duties as King'. Dressed in a smart suit with a blue tie, George beamed as he posed for photos with attendees and joined in conversation with guests The veteran showed Prince George and his mother a picture of the M4 Sherman tanks he operated during the war Kate also held Mr Auborn's hand as she examined his service photograph. 'Look at you, you are a very handsome young man,' she said winsomely. 'You've got a nice looking boy there, you're going to have to keep an eye on him,' Mr Auborn replied. 'It's a massive balancing act,' a palace insider previously told People Magazine about the Prince and Princess of Wales's approach to raising George as future king. 'William and Kate are doing the right thing, protecting him so he can have as normal a childhood as possible, but he's also dipping into duties as a future monarch,' the insider added. The source explained that George is getting 'firsthand experience of what it's like to be a royal monarch' as well as 'firsthand experience of being a normal boy.' His careful introduction at a Buckingham Palace tea party reflects the Prince and Princess of Wales's commitment to preparing their son for his future role whilst also preserving his childhood.
