Prince William (33 page)

Camilla was so nervous, she had to be dragged out of her bed that day, and she looked endearingly frightened, but it was clear that the crowd loved her. The civil ceremony was conducted by Clair Williams, the Royal Borough of Windsor's Superintendent Registrar, to which only a small group of family and close friends – twenty-eight in all – were invited. William and Tom Parker Bowles, being their elder children, were their witnesses, and William carried the wedding ring for his father. The only notable absentee from the register office was the Queen, who has never attended a register office wedding in her life – and that was perhaps why. She certainly didn't seem anything other than delighted during the religious service in St George's Chapel and the reception that followed. It was a Service of Prayer and Dedication conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Dean of Westminster, David Conner, that was a much more public affair – with newspaper photographers, television cameras and 800 of their closest friends.

Ian Jones was among them, and after years of studying the Windsors at close quarters through powerful lenses, he has noticed every nuance. ‘One of the best, best moments was when they came out of the Chapel. Having photographed him for quite a few years around the world on tours alone, he always seemed to be lacking someone by his side. He was passionate about what he was doing
but he had no one to share it with, no one to appreciate what he was doing and you could see the loneliness. It was so different when she was there with him and able to support him. When you think of all the grief she went though to get to that stage … It was transparent that William was happy for them – and Harry, but more so William. Harry is “Yeah fine, get on with it, let's have a beer”, but the caring side of William came out and from that first moment you could see on that wedding day that what mattered to him was the happiness of his father and how good Camilla was for him. You could see the genuine happiness of them all together. There's a lovely moment when the newly-weds are leaving by car and William and Harry are there seeing them off. There's real engagement and real confidence between Camilla and the boys.'

Different in style, temperament and every aspect of their lives, there is no doubting the huge affection both Princes feel towards their father.

IN HIS MOTHER'S FOOTSTEPS

In January 2005, five months before William graduated from St Andrews, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton was appointed part-time Private Secretary to both Princes. Harry was just coming to the end of an extended gap year and was due to start Sandhurst in the autumn. William, after his graduation in June, had six months to fill before he too began the gruelling forty-four week officer training course. Both were young adults, and charities were circling, hoping to interest one or other of them in their causes and to become patrons. With full-time education at an end, there would be royal duties to prepare for and organise. There was also a need for some strategic planning about their future – and more immediately, a plan to devise for William's next six months.

Mark Dyer had been fantastic in showing them the world, particularly Africa, which he knew so well. He had been a good, loyal friend, and remains one, but he was not the one to take them on to this next stage in their lives. He had worked unpaid (as so many people who work for the Prince of Wales do) on a part-time basis for eight years, but he had a business to run – a chain of gastro pubs in London – and wanted to get on with his life.

The only other person working specifically for William and Harry was Helen Asprey, a member of the jewellery family, who had worked as a PA in the Lord Chamberlain's office and then the Duke of Edinburgh's. Although young, she is described by someone who knows her well as, ‘Very old school, very formal, very Buckingham Palace,' but also very good fun. Their father had brought her in when the boys were teenagers as someone less
intimidating than anyone from his office, who could begin to guide them into the world they would soon have to inhabit. She set up a private office for them, initially with just her, but later a secretary to help answer correspondence. She handled their diaries and personal lives, organised house parties, shooting weekends and birthday parties. She managed big events for them and their polo matches, fixed dentists' and doctors' appointments, did their shopping, booked flights and holidays, handled personal invitations, liaised with the police about their plans and helped in their relationships with family friends and other foreign royal families. And in the early days, when both William and Harry turned eighteen, she also went to their first official engagements with them. She no longer has anything to do with the public side of their lives – purely the private and personal – but she is still with them, a trusted and much-loved member of the team that has gradually grown around her.

Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton was perfect for the job of taking William and Harry on to the next stage in their lives, and already knew the Prince of Wales, having been one of the Queen Mother's favourite equerries. He is a former SAS man, then in his mid-forties, who came with all the right credentials. He had been a professional (and colleagues say ‘completely brilliant') soldier for twenty years – perfect for two young men about to go into the military. He had served in the first Iraq War and in the Balkans, and at the time of his appointment was working as a part-time consultant to an international security firm and co-running a company that advised gap-year students and others on how to stay alive and avoid trouble when travelling abroad. He is an old Etonian, married with three young children (one of whom was a pageboy at William's wedding) and he won an MBE in the early 1990s, busting drug cartels for the government in Colombia. His experience of working at Clarence House was a bonus. At the age of twenty-three he had done a stint with the Queen Mother and there is no doubt his stories about their great-grandmother will have endeared him to William and Harry, who were both very
involved in his selection, along with Prince Charles, Sir Michael Peat and Mark Dyer, who was already a friend of Jamie's.

Jamie had been ‘dozing in a frozen trench with fellow Irish Guards somewhere between West and East Germany' when he got a call telling him he had been chosen for the job at Clarence House. Within forty-eight hours he was sitting down to lunch with the Queen Mother, nervously discussing how best to judge distance when flicking peas into a crystal chandelier with a fork.

Some time later, after a boisterous stag party, he invited all his friends – already well oiled – back to his equerry's room (with free bar) at Clarence House. It was the night before the Trooping the Colour ceremony and the Queen Mother was in residence. As he has often told the story, ‘The next morning, with the Private Secretary eyeing me darkly and my room strewn with empty bottles and glasses, I crawled into my uniform just in time to attend Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother as she mounted the carriage to take her to Horse Guards. “Did you have a party here last night, Jamie?” I stared at my boots and mumbled, “Ma'am, I'm terribly sorry. I hope we didn't disturb you,” knowing full well they had. “I'm so glad to see the place being properly used,” Her Majesty sparked, hopping into the carriage.'

First item on the agenda for William was an eleven-day trip to New Zealand at the invitation of Sir Clive Woodward to support the British and Irish Lions rugby team on what turned out to be their fateful 2005 tour. Sir Clive, former England coach, had been appointed coach for this tour after he had heroically led the England team to victory in the Rugby World Cup in 2003. The tour was a huge event: he took fifty-one players and forty-four back-room staff – the biggest party ever; thirty-thousand fans travelled from the UK, but Woodward sadly failed to work his magic on the Lions. His captain, Brian O'Driscoll, was lost to injury in the first few minutes of the first test match and they comprehensively lost the series 3–0 to the All Blacks. As a genuine rugby fan, William shared their pain – he had taken part in a training session with the team and had lunch with them, and was as disappointed as anyone.

But he thoroughly enjoyed the trip, nevertheless. It was the beginning of a love affair with the Antipodes, which he had only previously visited as a baby with his parents. In between the rugby and some sightseeing, he did his first solo engagements, and planted his first tree in the immaculate garden of Government House, where his father and grandparents had all planted trees before him. He represented the Queen in ceremonies in Wellington and Auckland to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War, and caused a sensation – particularly among the young girls who crowded around the National War Memorial. During a walkabout, a nineteen-year-old called out, ‘High five, William!' and to her astonishment, the twenty-three-year-old Prince raised his hand above his shoulder and glanced it off hers.

He had his close friend Thomas van Straubenzee to keep him company, who was still a university student and struggled to find the smart clothes necessary for the official functions they had to attend. But for much of the time they just had fun. There were no official cars, no pomp; they were holiday-makers. They drove around in a minibus, exploring the country, just four of them – William, Thomas, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton and Patrick Harrison from the press office – they went out and about, ate in bars and popped into cafés and no New Zealander ever came up to William wanting to take a photograph. The most attention he had was a family sitting at the table next to theirs who said, ‘Good to see you here. Thanks for coming.'The friendly, laid-back nature of New Zealanders was a joy and ensured his lasting affection for the country.

On his arrival in New Zealand, Sir Clive Woodward said of William, ‘I'm delighted he's here. It's great for the sport, great for New Zealand and great for the Lions.' Having an heir to the throne who is a genuine fan does automatically give the sport a huge boost. Harry also loves the game and the two of them regularly go to matches, although now in their capacity as Royal Vice Patrons – William of the Welsh Rugby Union (fitting for someone who will one day be Prince of Wales) and Harry of the English Rugby Union. David Pickering, chairman of the WRU, said on the day
it was announced, ‘I am delighted that Prince William has agreed to become our Vice Royal Patron. Rugby truly is our national sport in Wales, and the Prince's passion for and commitment to the game is well known. I saw his tremendous ambassadorial qualities first-hand during the British and Irish Lions tour last summer and during his visit to Cardiff for the FA Cup Final in May. He has particular qualities when it comes to interacting with young people and I am sure he will prove inspirational in his new role within Welsh rugby. We're all thrilled.'

Back at home, among those charities hoping to catch his eye was Centrepoint, the charity for young homeless people. Diana had become patron of Centrepoint in 1992 and had taken both William and Harry on several occasions to visit and talk to the young people in their shelters. It was one of only six charities she kept on after she stunned the charitable world (and her husband) by announcing that she was stepping down from public life in December 1993. A fax that came into her office from the Welsh National Opera, one of nearly a hundred charities which had relied on her for their income, was typical of many others. ‘Your Royal Highness, it is just so helpful to be able to use your name. We only ask you to do one engagement a year, which is a reception followed by an opera, but twenty per cent or so of all our fundraising is achieved that night. What are we going to do now?'

Centrepoint had been lucky, but when the Princess died, they decided not to replace her, hoping that at a later date one of her sons might be interested in taking on the role. Anthony Lawton was then chief executive and says that when he read William's remarks in the newspapers about homelessness, a light went on in his head. ‘I've always just felt they [homeless people] are overlooked and they need help, basically,' William was reported as saying. ‘I have done a bit privately and publicly over the last few years and that is one particular area I am passionate about. My mother introduced that sort of area to me a long time ago. It was a real eye-opener and I am very glad she did. It has been something I have held close to me for a long time.' Less known is the
fact that Prince Charles had also been involved with Centrepoint and visited in the early days of the charity when he was refining ideas for the Prince's Trust.

But first there was a discussion internally. ‘We sat around with the senior management team and said, “Do we want to try to get Wills?” We all paraded our republican sympathies for about twenty minutes and then said, “It's a no-brainer; of course we'd like to get Prince William involved.” For several reasons. The first was it would make a difference to lots of young people and young adults living with us. I didn't know how but I thought it would make those young people, who spend most of their lives feeling lousy, feel a little bit better, at least temporarily. The second was, it would be helpful for us making contacts and raising funds, and for our general legitimacy. If I wrote to twenty chairs of the boards of the FTSE 100 companies and said, “How would you like to come to a breakfast when we might brief you about the situation of young people and explore how you might be able to help?” On a good day I might get two who said they were interested and one who might come, and I intuited that if I said, “Our patron would be around for breakfast,” I'd get nineteen who'd say “Yes” and come. And the third reason, Centrepoint's always been about trying to influence public policy and not just about helping individuals, and this might be an opportunity in some way to influence the thoughts of the future King. So we set about trying to enthuse him.'

Knowing that Jamie was putting together a programme of work experience for William during the months before Sandhurst, Anthony Lawton quickly approached him via contacts he had and found he was pushing against an open door; William had always wanted to be connected with Centrepoint. He suggested building into William's programme some time in the charitable sector and invited him to spend a few days working as a volunteer for them.