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Meet Prince Charming . . .
. . . but let William grow up in peace, says Hugo Vickers PRINCE WILLIAM is in danger of being promoted as the latest national heart-throb. Readers of teenage magazines have voted him a "fanciable male" and now a female fan - no doubt the first of many - has presented him with a bunch of pink carnations.
Although cameramen are reasonably restrained about photographing him walking to and from his division rooms at Eton, the Prince is slowly becoming better known to us.
At 14, he already encapsulates many qualities, not least hope for the future of the monarchy. He is very much the son of both his parents, exemplifying the more attractive qualities of both. He is good-looking, has a kind face and his slight shyness - and propensity to blush - is appealing.
Like his father, he enjoys the outdoor life of Balmoral and has been taught the traditional ways of aristocratic country life. But despite the domestic problems he has had to face at an all-too-sensitive age, he has not inherited his father's tortured brow.
Reports that he has no intention of succeeding the Prince of Wales are exaggerated, but there are certainly moments when Prince William bemoans his lot - particularly when he is being stalked by the paparazzi.
It would be surprising if he did not. His father has made him clearly aware of what the future holds in store for him, and ensured he has no grandiose illusions about his role.
At the age of 21, Prince Charles told Jack de Manio: "I think it's something that dawns on you with the most ghastly, inexorable sense. I didn't wake up in my pram one day and say: yippee!" Prince William is likely to have much the same feelings, though he is less troubled by anxieties and self-doubt.
The gradual disintegration of his parents' marriage may have resulted in terrible tensions at home, but the divorce has eased matters. Far from being cruelly tugged in opposite directions, Prince William now benefits from experiencing two different kinds of lifestyle.
At Kensington Palace, Diana, Princess of Wales dispenses with much of the protocol and formality that is inevitable when he is staying with his father at Balmoral, for example, where he is piped into dinner and surrounded by staff and extended family. It is to his credit that he appears to enjoy the hamburger joints and amusement parks as much as he has taken to stag-hunting and pheasant shoots.
At Eton, Prince William has blossomed under a regime that encourages the development of the individual; he has his own room, works at a self-imposed pace and has already acquired a valuable network of friends. Prince Charles, on the other hand, languished at Gordonstoun, with its regime of dormitories, cold showers and naked lightbulbs, and failed to make many lasting friendships there.
But the father had one advantage over the son; in Prince Charles's teens, the yellow press did not follow his love life as assiduously as it would now. A liaison with Lucia Santa Cruz, the glamorous daughter of the then Chilean ambassador, was discreetly encouraged by The Master of Trinity and kept away from prying eyes.
Prince William will not be so lucky. His first girlfriend will be offered vast sums to talk, friends will be bribed, and long lenses and the cutting edge of new technology will do the rest.
The £2.40 bunch of flowers he was given by 15-year-old Alex Miller this week is just the start of what may prove to be a difficult trial. For as Prince William continues to stir teenage yearnings, his image will inevitably be manipulated into that of the traditional, romantic Prince Charming.
And no one can live up to that. Prince William will find himself cast as a hero one moment, and a rogue the next. No doubt, his parents have already warned him about that; there could,
after all, be few better placed to advise the young Prince about the bumpy ride ahead.
kittywinky@yahoo.com