Like thousands of other 18-year-olds, this summer Prince
William waves goodbye to his schooldays. Unlike thousands
of others, there may well be good reason why the publicity-shy
Prince, whose birthday falls on 21 June, may wish to linger a
little longer in the protected environment of his youth.
Until now the press has largely respected a hands-off attitude
towards the second-in-line to the throne. Thanks to
agreements brokered by the Press Complaints Commission,
the British press has, aside from a handful of minor
transgressions, left him and his brother to get on with their
schooldays in private. The more daring of the paparazzi may
have taken their chances and sold pictures to foreign
publications, but they don't even attempt to hawk their
snatched shots to the British tabloids anymore.
But across Fleet Street can be heard the sound of gloves
gently coming off. And editors are already preparing for when,
as Rosie Boycott, editor of The Express, puts it, William leaves
the confines of Eton "and becomes an adult". Says Boycott:
"Like it or loathe it – and he may not like it – he is an extremely
public figure, he is an heir to the throne, his mother was Diana,
he is single, he is jolly good-looking, he is going to be covered.
They [the Palace] can't keep him in a box."
However, it is in a box – albeit one with a lid that will
sporadically slide back on public occasions – that St James's
Palace appears intent to keep him. The Palace confirms that
talks are taking place with the PCC regarding future coverage
of Prince William. But it will not elaborate further. "Any
discussions we're having with the PCC are between us and
the PCC," says a spokeswoman.
Sources suggests that Palace officials have even gone beyond
the press' self-regulatory body and behind-the-scenes
approaches made direct to newspaper bosses in an attempt
to stem any Diana-esque feeding frenzy the press may think is
now its due.
Colin Myler, editor of the Sunday Mirror, the newspaper that ran
the infamous Diana-in-the-gym pictures, admits the situation
post-Eton will be "interesting".
He believes St James's Palace will argue that the same rules
should apply as the Prince continues in full-time education at
university. (Something of a frenzy has already begun over his
choice of venue; Edinburgh being the hottest tip.) He says
editors will remain keenly aware of their responsibilities and
he notes that since Diana's death readers no longer want to
read every dot and spit of what the Royals are up to. But he
says the Prince also has some facing up to do.
"There's a difference between a young boy being a pupil at
Eton and an 18-year old moving into adulthood at university.
That has to be understood by both sides, not least the Prince
himself," he says.
"We'll have to wait and see how it develops, but clearly there
will be more pressure when he leaves and goes to university
because his lifestyle will change."
Moving out of the single-sex cloistered environment of Eton
into the social whirl of a mixed college is what Myler is alluding
to. Charles Moore, the editor of The Daily Telegraph, is clearer.
"My guess is that there will be trouble and it has everything to
do with love-lives," Moore predicts. "He will have a girlfriend
and they [the tabloids] won't be able to contain their
excitement." One only has to look at the competition to get the
first shots of Diana's first "post-Charles" boyfriend to
acknowledge the truth in that. When Diana was first spotted
with Dodi Fayed, the News of the World considered it valid to
run a series of partially mocked-up photograph of what they
would have looked like kissing.
But relations between the tabloids and St James's have been
good in recent years – largely thanks to the astute ways of
Mark Bolland, now deputy private secretary to Prince Charles
but before that the director of the PCC. Links between the PCC
and the Palace are close – so close, in fact, that when a
request for an interview with PCC chairman, Lord Wakeham
for this piece was put to the PCC, The Independent was
redirected to the Palace.
David Yelland, the editor of The Sun, too, believes the day the
Prince starts dating will mark the point at which the Palace's
desire to protect him will have to bend to assuage public
interest. "If Prince William starts dating, everyone in this
country is going to want to see a picture of him with his
girlfriend," he says.
Yelland, though, says the Palace will understand the pressure
on editors to get that picture. While he insists there won't be
any "hassling", certainly not by Sun photographers, he says,
"we will come to an arrangement".
Still chastened from his public dressing down last year after
publishing pictures of a topless Sophie Rhys-Jones, he
explains: "Any editor that crosses the line as far as the princes
are concerned and gets monstered publicly by Lord Wakeham
or Prince Charles might as well wave goodbye to his job."
He adds: "One thing that doesn't worry me but I know it worries
others is that these people out there are dictating. But in reality
they're not dictating. It's in my interests to work with them
because I can't afford The Sun to get into a Sophie-type
situation."
One broadsheet editor stresses that much of the responsibility
for what happens next will lie with the young prince himself. If
Prince William goes straight to university, then on campus
there will be a stand-off. Off campus he might be a little more
like fair game. And if the Prince decides to take a year off, it is
likely the tabloids could all "go for it".
To date, any conflicts between the press and Prince William
are best described as minor skirmishes rather than full-scale
clashes. The one occasion that he complained to the PCC
was when the Mail on Sunday published an article that
speculated on his private feelings as the prince approached
his 16th birthday. Then, the matter was resolved amicably.
Boycott, awaiting a PCC adjudication on a story the Sunday
Express ran on an alleged "girlfriend" of the Prince, says she
hopes he won't face the kind of hounding that dogged Diana.
But she is sure there will be more skirmishes to come. "It'll be
tough for him," she says. "I just hope he has good advisers."
~*~
Ashanti king on schools mission(electronic Telegraph)
By W F Deedes
IN London by invitation of the Queen is Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantemene -
king of the Ashanti nation within Ghana. Moved by the wretched state of
education in his own kingdom and throughout Ghana, he has set up a charity
to improve the country's educational opportunities.
In an exclusive interview, the king conveyed to me how deeply he feels about
the educational needs of Ghana - so deeply that soon after his accession to
what Ashanti calls the Golden Stool in April of last year he donated a huge
sum from his own coffers to what has become the Otumfuo Education Fund.
To foster the fund he aims to enlist the help of Britain, America and Canada.
The wealthier citizens of Ghana will also be expected to make a contribution.
"Ignorance," he says, "is an enemy." His fund has four principal aims.
The first is to renovate and expand Ghana's school buildings, many of them
battered by the weather and in total disrepair. Schools will also be assisted to
buy furniture, textbooks and other teaching aids.
Ghana's government will continue to pay teachers' salaries, but they are so
meagre that teachers are hard to get. The king sees a need to offer them
special incentive packages. Part of the fund will go to that.
There will also be financial assistance for bright but needy children and
students. Six hundred students have already benefited from the fund. Why, I
asked, has Ghana's education sunk so low?
Formerly the Gold Coast, it was among the first of our colonies to be granted
independence, early in 1957. Unlike much of Africa, it has not lately been
involved in conflict. The king's entourage talk of falling commodity prices -
cocoa, gold and timber are Ghana's principal exports. Inflation has soared.
The currency is weak.
"No individual can solve it," said one of the king's aides. "What His Majesty
has done is to set an example which he hopes others will follow." A factor in
his decision to take a lead over education in Ghana is awareness of how fast
the population in rural areas is moving towards the cities and towns. He said:
"In town you need an education that is not needed in the rural areas."
It is in Ghana's rural areas that education has reached its lowest ebb. Too few
schools are functioning at all. So pupils are required to walk long distances to
the few that exist. Many children whose families cannot afford the modest fees
or the uniform get no education at all.