Prince William
Prince William is tall and athletic, strikingly handsome, bright and born to be a king. He is already a teenage icon, to his blushing embarrassment.
But at only 16 he has already known great suffering.
Already bruised by his parents' highly public estrangement and divorce, William's world fell apart when Princess Diana was killed in August 1997. Watched by the world, he showed great fortitude walking behind his mother's coffin at her Westminster Abbey funeral. Since then the Windsors and the Spencers have rallied round to help William and his brother Harry, two years his junior.
Now William seems to have a maturity - at least on the surface - far beyond his years. He has, of course, to deal with the situation of his father's mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles. But he has taken matters into his own hands, engineering a meeting with her at St James's Palace. The two seem to have got on famously and have since met several times more.
That he is cool under fire is apparent, but some who are close to him admit they still have much to learn about what goes on deep down inside the young Prince.
Above all, they find it difficult to know with any accuracy what he is really thinking. 'It's as though he is protecting himself by hiding his feelings,' says one senior figure. 'But after what he has been through, that is hardly surprising.'
Unlike his father, whose schooldays at Gordonstoun were lonely and miserable, William at 16 is a confident figure among his peers, with many friends. He spends weekends with them at their homes and some go home with him, usually to Highgrove, Charles's Gloucestershire estate.
Last Christmas, at the end of term, he brought a group of Eton friends back to his home in St James's Palace, where they all changed into black tie and evening dress before going off to the first of a series of dances and parties over several nights. At these times of private fun he is very different from the carefully-controlled young figure towering over his father and so much admired by the public.
Girls have inevitably begun to make an appearance in his life, though the two girlfriends he has briefly romanced have both taken second place to his studies in the past year.
He has achieved a very respectable package of GCSEs and plans to sit four A-levels: English, French, Economics and History of Art.
Charles was never as academic as this and his entry into Trinity College, Cambridge, to read History, was viewed with some charity. Charles has always seen himself as a man of artistic temperament and taste (and thought it was his younger son who took after him), but it was William's decision to take History of Art as a fourth subject.
He is a skilled silverworker, very clever with his hands; one of his most precious possessions is a small silver figurine he made for his mother in the Eton metal workshop.
He also treasures a watch that was in his mother's collection. He could have had the Rolex, engraved with the Prince of Wales feathers and given to her by Prince Charles on her 21st birthday. But when asked to choose any one of them, he took, in fact, the Cartier 'Tank' watch given to her by her father, the late Earl Spencer.
The clarity with which William looks to his future is seen in Palace circles as a good sign for the future of the monarchy.
'He seems to know exactly where he is going,' says a senior figure close to Charles. 'He is a bright boy who knows what he wants, assertive but cool at the same time. It is already very clear that he will have a purpose in life that relates to the real world as well as his birthright of the throne.'
He is different from his father, according to friends, in that he has a far greater confidence in his own abilities. 'William doesn't have his father's doubts, nor does he seem to have inherited his father's penchant for blaming others when things go wrong,' says a friend.
He has a deep suspicion of the media, mainly as a result of the distress his mother suffered from the lack of privacy she was afforded. But it is a mark of his growing maturity that he realises that interest in him is an unavoidable fact of life, and on the eve of his 16th birthday he allowed the unprecedented release of private details about his life. This was also a way of rewarding the media for the restraint they had shown during his education.
A picture of an accomplished and rounded young man emerged from the files at St James's Palace, together with his own answers to a set of written questions about his likes and dislikes. So this is the life of Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales so far.
Born on June 21, 1982, he started at Mrs Mynors's Nursery School in Notting Hill, West London - run by Mrs Jane Mynors - on September 24, 1985, aged three, and left in December 1986. Teachers said William was very keen on reading and loved writing his name; he is left-handed. According to royal records: 'William was very popular with other children, and was known for his kindness, sense of fun and quality of thoughtfulness.'
At four, William enrolled at Wetherby School, also in Notting Hill, on January 15, 1987 and was a pupil until July 5, 1990. It was noted he had a flair for English and spelling.
He spent five years at Ludgrove School, at Wokingham, Berkshire, from September 10, 1990, until July 5, 1995.
During this time, he accompanied the Princess of Wales to a Christmas concert by the London Symphony Chorus, at the Barbican in London, when he made his first public signature, signing the visitors' book.
His first public engagement was with the Prince and Princess of Wales on a visit to Wales on St David's Day, March 1, 1991, at a service in Llandaff Cathedral, when he was eight.
William was at his prep school when, on December 9, 1992, his parents' separation was announced by the then Prime Minister John Major in the House of Commons. The young Prince had already been informed privately, by the Princess, a few days earlier.
The young Prince's sporting prowess came to the fore at Ludgrove where he was a rugby and hockey captain, stylish swimmer, useful footballer, basketball player, crack clay pigeon shooter and represented the school at cross-country running.
His first mention in the Court Circular, the daily bulletin issued by Buckingham Palace about the activities of the Royal Family, was on August 19, 1995, when he accompanied his mother, father and brother, with other senior Royals, in The Mall to commemorate the 50th anniversary of VJ Day and the end of the Second World War.
On June 3 1991, William was admitted to the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, after an accident at Ludgrove. Playing with a friend on the putting green, he was hit on the side of the head with a golf club. He suffered a depressed fracture of the forehead but was not knocked out. William was transferred to London's Great Ormond Street Hospital. That evening, he underwent an operation. 'Prince William was very brave and did not cry,' according to the royal records.
In answer to written questions submitted by the Press Association news agency, William said he is enjoying Eton and likes the college's distinctive uniform of tailcoat and striped trousers. He is a keen sportsman and prefers rugby, football, swimming, water polo and tennis.
Reading is a favourite pastime, particularly action-adventure fiction and non-fiction. He also likes action films at the cinema.
He has a pet female black Labrador, called Widgeon, and shares the Royal Family's love of horses. An ambition is to go on safari in Africa to see big game in the wild.
William missed out when his younger brother Prince Harry went on safari in 1997 in Botswana while with the Prince of Wales in southern Africa.
Like most teenagers, William likes pop music - particularly techno music - but also listens to classical music. He has broad tastes in food but enjoys simple dishes and fast food.
William is able to shop for clothes himself and likes modern styles. He does not have his own computer although he enjoys playing computer games. He enjoys writing letters and also keeps in touch with family and friends by telephone.
William is fast becoming a diplomat and keeps his own counsel on a number of matters. For example, he will not publicly express a preference for pop groups; nor will he discuss his friends at Eton.
The Prince is unlikely to begin solo royal duties until he has completed his education - probably not until he has left university, though he does not know yet which one he would like to attend.
© Associated Newspapers Ltd., 27 July 1998