From the sweet name his mother used to call him to the odd scar he got from a peculiar
head injury, these strange facts about Prince William, a man destined to one day become
the King of England, might surprise you. Here's what you may not have known about him.
Most know Queen Elizabeth II's oldest grandchild as Prince William, or the Duke of Cambridge,
or the future king of England. But it may be surprising to learn that this prince has
a more unusual nickname, which he got from his mother.
In an NBC News interview in 2007, Prince William revealed that his mother, the late Princess
Diana, affectionately called him "Wombat," and the name apparently stuck. William explained,
"It began when I was two. I've been rightfully told because I can't remember back that far.
But when we went to Australia with our parents, and the wombat, you know, that's the local
animal. So I just basically got called that. Not because I look like a wombat. Or maybe
I do."
In the interview, Prince Harry playfully added that the nickname actually came about due
his older brother's supposed laziness, and said,
"He was still crawling at six."
Long before Prince William met Kate Middleton, the young prince had his eye on supermodel
Cindy Crawford. According to Vogue, a 13-year-old William told his mother that he had a crush
on Crawford, so Princess Diana invited the American model to the Kensington Palace, so
William could meet her. While William must have been excited to meet his celebrity crush,
Crawford later admitted in Naomi Campbell's YouTube series, No Filter with Naomi, that
she was nervous about the meeting. Crawford explained,
"I was so intimidated meeting Princess Diana and being at Kensington Palace and how just
completely down to earth she was. And, you know, because there's so much protocol and
I guess, not being English, I don't understand some of it."
Prince William may be second in line to be king, after his father, Prince Charles, but
he's already president. President of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, that
is. According to the BAFTA website, William has been president of the organization since
February 2010. It seems he takes pride in his role, as both Prince William and his wife,
Kate Middleton, have been known to attend the awards ceremony each year.
In February 2020, the Duke of Cambridge even made headlines with his BAFTA speech, in which
he not only called for more diversity in the British Film industry, but also poked fun
at how often his family has been portrayed on film and television.
"I am particularly proud to stand here tonight having served as BAFTA's President for the
last 10 years. However, I must admit, I don't know whether I should be proud, or slightly
alarmed, about the number of winners over the last decade who have portrayed members
of my own family."
Prince William has made a career out of helping the critically injured. He was a pilot with
the Royal Air Force Search and Rescue Force for seven and a half years, and in 2014 he
took a role as a pilot for the East Anglian Air Ambulance. But the future king once sustained
an injury himself, and it happened on the golf course.
When William was just 9 years old, he was hit in the head by a flying object. As he
told Newsround,
"I got hit by a golf club when I was playing golf with a friend of mine. We were on a putting
green, and the next thing you know, there was a seven iron and it came out of nowhere
and hit me in the head."
William added that he had to get an operation after the injury, which left him with a scar
on his forehead. He apparently calls this scar his "Harry Potter scar" and jokes that
sometimes it glows.
Prince William is expected to live in Buckingham Palace when he becomes king, but he once suggested
that he wouldn't mind living by the water. In 2016, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
visited the Wave Project in Newquay, which uses surfing to reduce anxiety and improve
wellbeing in children. According to People, William gushed about life by the water and
said,
"We should have brought our wetsuits — I'm very jealous! Living by the beach is just
perfect."
As it turns out, the prince loves the water and has even learned to surf. In 2004, he
was spotted trying his hand at surfing near St. Andrews in Scotland, where he attended
school. In 2011, William even opted to go surfing for his bachelor party, according
to ABC News. It may be hard to picture the future king of England hanging ten but it
seems William loves being in the water.
It seems Prince William lives a glamorous life of luxury, meeting beautiful celebrities
and attending events, but things haven't always been easy for this future king. In fact, the
royal has gone through some hard times, especially after the death of his mother, Princess Diana.
In the HBO documentary, Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, William said of his mother's
passing,
"There's nothing like it in the world. There really isn't. It's like an earthquake has
just run through the house and through your life and everything."
He added that it felt like his mind was split in two, and that it took him a while to process
what had happened, which is why William has been known to speak out about mental illness.
In a BBC TV documentary he said,
"Because I think particularly in Britain as well, we are nervous about our emotions, we
are a bit embarrassed sometimes."
He continued,
"You know, the British stiff upper lip thing, that's great and we need to have that occasionally
when times are really hard [...] But otherwise, we've got to relax a little bit and be able
to talk about our emotions because we're not robots."
While Prince William's brother, Prince Harry, has been known to be the rebel of the family,
it seems William was the first of the two to go against royal protocol. Back in 1982,
Princess Diana gave birth to William in the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital in London,
even though hospital births were uncommon for British royalty. The royal family historically
preferred to have home births, with Queen Elizabeth II being born at her grandparents'
home in 1926, and all of the queen's children born in Buckingham Palace.
It was Princess Anne who first broke tradition in 1977 when she had her first child in the
Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital. Following in her footsteps, Diana also went to the hospital
to deliver William and Harry, setting a new trend. Later on, William's children would
all be delivered in the very same hospital as well.
Prince William married his longtime sweetheart, Kate Middleton, in an extravagant royal wedding
at Westminster Abbey on April 29th, 2011, but it almost didn't happen. William and Kate
broke up once in 2004, and again in 2007. It even seemed that the prince was happy to
go separate ways after the second split. According to ABC News, after the fateful break-up, William
reportedly spent $9,000 at a nightclub where he yelled "I'm free."
Still, the prince apparently had second thoughts because just ten and a half weeks later, William
and Kate were spotted kissing at a party, and three years later, they were engaged.
William said during their official engagement interview,
"We had a little private time away together with some friends, and I just decided it was
the right time, really."
He continued,
"We'd been talking about marriage for a while, so it wasn't a massively big surprise, but
I took her up somewhere nice in Kenya."
The royals are always in the spotlight. Prince William, in particular, has been in the public
eye since he was a newborn, so it's understandable that he'd like to get a little privacy every
once in a while. Luckily, he had a system in place to help him fly under the radar while
he attended University.
According to Hello! magazine, William's friends at the University of St. Andrews would use
the code name "Steve" when referring to the prince, when they didn't want others to know
who they were talking about. It was a sneaky way to avoid attention and may have helped
the prince keep a low profile.
Prince William was born to be king, but if he weren't second in line to the throne, there's
another job that the royal would like to have. In the book, Diana: Her True Story — In
Her Own Words, royal biographer Andrew Morton wrote that a young William told his mother
about what he'd like to do when he gets older. According to Morton, William said,
"When I grow up I want to be a policeman and look after you Mummy."
However, the prince was fated to inherit a very different role. Prince Harry reportedly
reminded his brother and said,
"Oh no you can't, you've got to be king"
Of course, William is still destined to take over the throne, and while it's not clear
if the royal feels he's missed out on another career path, it seems he's ready to inherit
the family business.
"I take duty very seriously. I take my responsibilities very seriously."
Prince William made headlines when he proposed to Kate Middleton with his mother's stunning
sapphire engagement ring, but some might be surprised to learn that the future king didn't
actually inherit the jewel from Princess Diana. Instead, he was gifted the ring by his younger
brother, Prince Harry. According to The Sun, Diana wrote in a letter,
"I would like you to allocate all my jewelry to the share to be held by my sons, so that
their wives may, in due course, have it or use it."
Harry selected the sapphire, but later decided to give it to his older brother when he was
preparing to propose to Kate. As Paul Burrell, Diana's former butler explained in the 2017
documentary, The Diana Story,
"Harry gave up his precious treasure. His one thing he kept from his mother, he gave
to his brother. That's selfless, kind and exactly who Diana was."
It may be hard to imagine playing pranks on the future king of England, but it turns out
that some of William's friends from the Royal Air Force did just that. According to Hello!
magazine, one friend revealed,
"We spent a few pounds on Kate and William memorabilia and strategically secreted it
around the place, so he might find his own face on a cushion or see it on a cup when
you give him a cup of tea."
Hopefully William enjoyed the prank.
During his gap year, Prince William joined the Welsh Guards on exercise in Belize, went
to Kenya, and volunteered in Patagonia, South America. He then started his first year at
St. Andrews University. By 23, the prince had graduated.
While one might assume every member of the British royal family would prioritize getting
a top-rate education, it turns out that the Duke of Cambridge is one of very few British
royals in recent history to get a degree. The only other royals to earn a university
degree are Princess Beatrice, who studied at the University of London, Princess Eugenie,
who went to Newcastle University, and William's father, Prince Charles, who went to Cambridge
and made history when he became the first British heir to the throne to earn a university
degree.
Prince William is very active, from surfing to flying planes, and it seems as though he
can do just about anything. However, he has one unique trait that made one of his favorite
sports, polo, much more difficult. Prince William is left-handed, and in polo, players
aren't allowed to use their left hands. William reportedly had to learn how to play right-handed,
but has proven to be a good player nonetheless.
Fortunately, it seems William isn't troubled by his right-handed polo playing. In fact,
he sees his left-handedness as an advantage. According to Hello! magazine, William once
joked,
"Left-handers have better brains [than right-handers]."
It's a good thing that William likes being left-handed, because according to the Daily
Mail, it seems that he's passed the trait on to his oldest son, Prince George. The young
prince, who's third in line to the throne, has reportedly been seen favoring his left
hand. According to a source who knows the royal, William is thrilled to see his son
taking after him. Hopefully George will grow up to play polo as well as his father, too.
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