13 amazing facts about our future King!
Thursday 21 June 2012
We've taken a trip down memory lane in honour of Prince William's 30th Birthday, and it turns out there are quite a few things we didn't know about the young Royal! From his love of practical jokes to his very own Harry Potter scar, here’s a selection of facts you may not know about the Prince…
Although William's full title is His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales, we've found some of his less formal, slightly more embarrassing nicknames. During his more youthful years, the Prince was called by the names Wombat, His Royal Naughtiness, Billy, Billy the Basher or Dreamboat.
The newly wed is left-handed and one of his favourite bands growing up was The Spice Girls. He even announced that his teenage crush was Emma Bunton, who replaced Pamela Anderson as the object of his affections.
William excelled in sports, particularly swimming, while in school at Eton. He loves outdoor sports like horse riding, skiing, shooting and fishing, which he enjoys with his brother, Harry, and father, Charles.
He was the first heir to the British throne to be born in a hospital. His father Charles was born at Buckingham Palace. He was also the first to wear disposable diapers, and attend nursery school!
At age eight Prince William was sent to Ludgrove, a boarding school, where he shared a room with four other boys. During his time there, William was accidently struck on the head by a golf club and was diagnosed with a depressed fracture of the skull. To this day he retains a mark on his forehead, which is referred to as his Harry Potter scar.
The young Prince had to wear an electronic tracking bracelet for a while after he slipped away from his security staff at Balmoral Castle for half an hour.
He can't fly in the same plane as his father because an accident might take the lives of two future kings.
Prince William was known to be a mischievous child; he once flushed his father, Charles’s shoes down the toilet!
Like every child, William had a number of careers he wanted to embark upon. He once told his mum he wanted to be a policeman so that he could protect her, and at 11 he said that he would like to become a professional actor after appearing in several school plays.
It was widely reported that Prince William was allowed to attend clubs and discos if he obeyed the following rules set down for him by the queen:
No smoking, alcohol, or drugs.
No kissing girls in public.
Avoid being photographed by the media.
Arrive and leave with royal aides.
Be accompanied by detectives and a trustworthy friend.
Get permission to attend the party, and be home on time.
When he was little, William played a joke on his mother, Diana. The pair were swimming and as Diana got out of the pool to put on her robe, William pretended to drown and slowly started floating to the bottom. Seeing her son in danger, Diana struggled to get her robe off and so jumped in the pool with it on ready to save him. When they both submerged William was laughing his head off at his little joke, unsurprisingly Diana was not amused.
It’s not all young girls that stop Prince William in the street you know! He once admitted: “I've had lots of kids come up and ask for my autograph, I've had a grandmother stop me and ask me if I know a good place to buy underwear.”.
According to her best friend at school, Jessica Hay, William’s wife Kate used to jokingly 'moon' at the boys' boarding houses from her dorm window.
Brunette beauty Kate is apparently famed for her sausage and mash suppers
When William’s brother, Harry, was born, Alan Jay Lerner, the lyricist for 'My Fair Lady,' was commissioned to write an official lullaby for Harry. The lullaby was titled, "Brocades and Coronets."