Will Harry cause William to take another gap year?
By JASON LEWIS, Mail on Sunday 15:44pm 6th February 2005
Prince William is refusing to decide what he will do after leaving university, raising speculation he is planning to disappear on an extended holiday.
The 22-year-old Prince, currently studying for his final exams at St Andrews University, had been expected to go straight to Sandhurst to begin training as an Army officer.
However, it has become clear that he is increasingly anxious to delay his arrival at the military academy - largely, friends say, because of Prince Harry.
His younger brother is due to enter Sandhurst in a couple of months' time, and William is reluctant to join so soon afterwards, when he would be a junior officer to Harry.
Buckingham Palace last night said William was too preoccupied by revising for the exams for his geography degree to make decisions about his future.
Officials described reports that he was to take another gap year as mere 'speculation', and denied claims he was refusing to undertake public engagements.
However, William's disinclination to commit himself to the Army will be unwelcome to courtiers, who are already anxious-that junior Royals are appearing to be workshy.
Concerns over unfavourable publicity
They are concerned that Harry attracts unfavourable publicity because of his playboy antics, as does his 44-year-old uncle, Prince Andrew, who was last week castigated by MPs for his profligate use of helicopters to take short journeys.
A friend of William's told The Mail on Sunday: "William is adamant he wants to take some time out when he graduates. He doesn't want to be pinned down to making any definite commitments about his future.
"He has said he wants to travel for a couple of months at least and has confided that he would love to go back to Kenya, where he spent time during his gap year between Eton and university working on a wildlife reserve.
"The pressure of knowing he will one day be King weighs very heavily on him, so he thinks that while he's in the prime of his youth he should be allowed to do everything he could possibly want."
As well as inviting questions about William's commitment to public life, any decision by him to depart on another gap year will expose Royal finances to further scrutiny.
The Prince's holiday would be funded by his father's estate, the Duchy of Cornwall, which is already the subject of an inquiry by a powerful committee of MPs, investigating whether the £500 million Duchy is funding the lavish lifestyles of Prince Charles's circle, including Camilla Parker Bowles.
But last night a Buckingham Palace spokesman said: "William is still at university and will not be making any plans about his future until after he completes his exams in June. He is working very hard on his studies and revising for his finals. Any thoughts about what he will do on completing his studies are being pushed to the back of his mind."
Asked whether the Prince was planning to decline Royal engagements, the spokesman said this too was "pure speculation". He added: "William has already done some public engagements and it is likely this will continue.
