William follows Harry
2006-01-03 13:20
London - Britain's dashing Prince William follows his younger brother Prince Harry into army life this weekend when he begins a gruelling year at Britain's storied Sandhurst military academy.
The 23-year-old elder son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana is second in line to the British throne and will be following a royal family tradition when he becomes Officer Cadet William Wales.
Harry, two years his junior, has been at Sandhurst, in the town of Camberley, southwest of London, since June - the same month that William pocketed his geography degree at St Andrew's University in Scotland.
Both will emerge from Sandhurst as lieutenants, though William, thanks to his university education, is likely to enjoy an earlier promotion to captain than his famously party-loving sibling.
Sandhurst, the British equivalent of West Point in the United States or Saint-Cyr officer school in France, is famous for both the broad scope of its curriculum and its demanding discipline.
Few privileges
Past graduates have included the late King Hussein of Jordan, the sultan of Brunei, World War II prime minister Winston Churchill - and two of Diana's former lovers, Dodi Fayed and James Hewitt.
Charles served in the Royal Navy, flying helicopters but didn't go through Sandhurst, while his father Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, was a naval officer on active duty in World War II.
The strict regime at Sandhurst ensures "total immersion" into the British armed forces, and the officers-in-training are given few privileges as they embark on their career under arms.
Officer Cadet Wales will find himself polishing boots, ironing shirts, facing intensive drill sessions and enduring gruelling physical training. He will also have to do all his own laundry.
William will be woken at dawn every day for the first five weeks to face a room inspection, when his "kit" (equipment) will be meticulously checked and must be placed in exactly the right place.
Midnight curfew
Most recruits have their own small room with a bed, a sink, a chest of drawers, a cupboard and a desk. William has already collected his boots, which he should have worn in over the Christmas holidays.
William will also have been given three uniforms known as "combat 95s" - a blue drill uniform, an olive-green barracks uniform and a physical training kit with shorts, T-shirt, socks and trainers (running shoes).
The blonde prince will arrive at Sandhurst on Sunday with around 270 other raw recruits. For the first five weeks they will all be forbidden from leaving the site - even at weekends.
Eventually the cadets will be able to venture out to explore nightclubs in such nearby provincial hotspots as Guildford or Reading, subject to a midnight curfew.
It will be on those evenings that William could steal an opportunity to be with his girlfriend, Kate Middleton, with whom he shared a house with friends at university.