William and Harry.

by Katie Nicholl

Preface.

Modernisation is quite a strong word to use with the monarchy because it's something that's been around for many hundreds of years. But I think it's important that people feel the monarchy can keep up with them and is relevant to their lives. We are all human and inevitably mistakes are made. But in the end there is a great sense of loyalty and dedication among the family and it rubs off on me. Ever since I was very small, it's something that's been very much impressed on me, in a good way.Prince William on his twenty-first birthday It is more than a decade since princes William and Harry, then just fifteen and twelve years old, united in grief, walked behind their mother's funeral cortege. The single white envelope bearing the word 'Mummy', written in Harry's hand, is still probably the most powerful and moving image of these two extraordinary young men. Tragically Diana's funeral was William and Harry's first public duty. But however poignant the memory of that day remains, the princes are no longer boys. Today they are young men. They are soldiers, forging lives of their own or trying to.

They are on the precipice of greatness and, though they may not always like it, they and their advisers know that the public perception of them matters. Over the past year there has been a concerted effort behind the palace walls to reinvent their public images. Louche behaviour such as falling out of nightclubs will no longer be tolerated. Since graduating from Sandhurst Harry has gone to war and fought on the frontline for Queen and country. William is full of zeal for his own career and determined to become a search and rescue pilot.

Today we are seeing more of the royal brothers than ever before. They grace glossy magazine covers, they give interviews, they address the worlds of film, television and music. They use their t.i.tles to promote their charitable works. They have their own office and team of aides and their own agendas. They are as recognised and popular around the world as any Hollywood 'A' list celebrity.

Now is the time for William and Harry to shoulder their responsibility. The royal brothers will be carrying out their first official overseas tour to Africa to see first hand the fruits of their charitable works. In their efforts to map out their separate paths they are continually pushing at the boundaries of royal protocol, as their mother so famously did. They are re-shaping the future of the great British monarchy with their every step.

Quite simply they are the future of the House of Windsor. Male primogeniture dictates that we will have King Charles and Queen Camilla before we have King William V and possibly Queen Catherine, but many believe it will be William who will be the standard bearer for a new twenty-first-century royal family.

But for all their modern att.i.tudes, the tradition and restraint of monarchy continues its hold. Like their father, William and Harry struggle with the idea that their lives are already 'mapped out'. While they recognise the unique privileges their royal t.i.tles bring, they both still crave normality. It is why William loves to ride his motorbike around the streets of London, safe in the knowledge that in his leathers and helmet he is anonymous. And the reason Harry has admitted he often wishes he wasn't a prince.

So who are are these young men? So much in the spotlight and yet so little understood or truly known by any of the subjects over whom one of them at least will one day reign? What forces have shaped them? What relationships have formed them? What hopes and disappointments have left their imprint on their characters? It is not simply a case of William being the heir and Harry the spare. The bond between them runs far deeper. Together they seem themselves as 'Team Wales'. these young men? So much in the spotlight and yet so little understood or truly known by any of the subjects over whom one of them at least will one day reign? What forces have shaped them? What relationships have formed them? What hopes and disappointments have left their imprint on their characters? It is not simply a case of William being the heir and Harry the spare. The bond between them runs far deeper. Together they seem themselves as 'Team Wales'.

I have spent the past eight years observing the princes metamorphose from cautious teenagers into responsible young men who are pa.s.sionate about their careers and their charities. Yet to many they exist only in snapshot recollections; images captured in stage-managed appearances. With this book I hope to change that.

Chapter 1.

An heir and a spare.

I want to bring them security. I hug my children to death and get into bed with them at night. I always feed them love and affection.Diana, Princess of Wales Princess Diana peered through the floral curtains of her room at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington and watched the rain trickle down the Georgian sash windows. Below, the crowds snaked along the street, sheltering beneath a canopy of umbrellas. Among the sea of soggy cellophane-wrapped flowers, Union Jack flags and congratulatory banners, Diana could make out the press pack, some of who were on ladders, their lenses trained on the hospital entrance, eagerly awaiting the first glimpse of the baby prince. Very soon all eyes would be on the royal baby sleeping peacefully in his new cot oblivious to the fact that his first photocall was awaiting him.

Wrapped in swaddling blankets the future king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland had already been a.s.signed a full-time bodyguard from Scotland Yard's Royalty and Diplomatic Protection Squad, who now stood guard outside the private hospital room. While Diana had wanted nothing more than for her son to be 'normal', this child would grow up in palaces. He was only a day old, but the young prince's life had already been mapped out, his destiny shaped by a thousand years of royal history.

Outside, the mood was of antic.i.p.ation and growing excitement. The Queen, jubilant and immaculate in a purple dress coat, had been to visit that morning. They had not always seen eye to eye, but today Diana could do no wrong in the eyes of her mother-in-law. She had produced a healthy heir to the House of Windsor, and in keeping with tradition a notice had been posted on the gates of Buckingham Palace announcing the happy news. The prince and princess had yet to decide on a name: Charles had wanted Arthur, but Diana preferred William and would get her way. It had been a long labour and she was desperate to get home to Kensington Palace, where more well-wishers awaited the couple's arrival.

Diana had written royal history when on Monday 21 June 1982, the summer solstice, Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales was born in the private Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital. Like generations of royals before him, his father Charles had been delivered in the Belgian Suite at Buckingham Palace, but Diana, as the royal family quickly discovered, wanted to do things differently. She had endured a difficult pregnancy and terrible morning sickness which had been the subject of daily press articles to add to the indignity of it all and when the time came, she was determined to give birth in a modern hospital, not a palace.

The prince and princess had arrived at St Mary's in the early hours of Monday morning, following Diana's first contractions. The princess later recalled she had been 'sick as a parrot' during the sixteen-hour labour. Charles had been there throughout, offering words of comfort and sips of water to revive her. At one point he had dozed off in an armchair but he was at Diana's side when her gynaecologist George Pinker and his team of nurses safely delivered their son at exactly three minutes past nine that evening. The prince had blue eyes and a wisp of blond hair and weighed in at a healthy seven pounds, one and a half ounces. Only when he was content that Diana was asleep did Charles leave his wife's side to address the public. The little boy, he announced, was beautiful, and mother and child were doing well. 'We're very proud.' He beamed. 'It's been thirty hours, a long time.' 'Does he look like you, sir?' a royal reporter enquired. 'No, he's lucky enough not to,' joked Charles, adding that he was relieved and delighted, if a little exhausted from the birth. He couldn't stop smiling, and when a female fan squeezed under the police barrier to plant a kiss on his cheek he blushed furiously. 'You're very kind,' he spluttered before bidding the crowd farewell and returning to Kensington Palace for a nightcap.

The prince was the first to arrive at the hospital the next morning, followed shortly by Diana's sister Lady Jane Fellowes and her mother Frances Shand Kydd, who had travelled from her home in Scotland to see her daughter and new grandson. As world leaders sent congratulatory telegrams, landlords at pubs around the country served rounds on the house. Even football fans managed to prise themselves away from the World Cup to celebrate the joyous news. Britain had been on high alert following Argentina's invasion of the Falklands in April, but on 14 June the Argentinian forces on the islands had surrendered and within days the war was declared over. Now the people of Britain had another reason to celebrate: a future king had been born. It was a momentous occasion and the great British public planned to celebrate.

The spring sunshine had dispersed the rainclouds when Diana and Charles walked down the steps of the Lindo Wing holding their newborn son. Dressed in a green and white spotted maternity dress adorned with an oversized white collar, Diana blinked against the exploding flashbulbs. 'Over here, Diana! Look this way! Show us his face!' the press men shouted above the clicking of their shutters. The crowds, cordoned off behind police barriers, called out their congratulations and waved at the happy couple. It was less than a year since they had lined the streets of the Mall to watch the newly-weds kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. The wedding at St Paul's Cathedral was the celebration of the decade and not since the Queen's coronation had there been such a street party. The British public had their fairy-tale prince and princess and the royal succession was secured.

It was almost too much for Diana, still fragile and exhausted from the birth, to take in. Life had been a whirlwind ever since the Palace confirmed that the Prince of Wales was to marry Lady Diana Spencer. When she gave birth to William she was still navigating the maze of royal life and coming to terms with the fact that home was no longer a flat in west London but a grand palace. It was a steep learning curve and she had yet to master the confidence and sophistication she would acquire in later life. She was still painfully shy in public and turned to her husband, who was well practised in his public role, for support. While Diana had wanted to blend into the background, the British public positioned her centre stage, a role the baby prince would later also struggle with. The minutiae of her daily life was now public consumption. Every outfit she wore was pored over in the pages of glossy magazines as Charles and Di mania gripped Britain. It had not escaped Charles's notice, nor the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh's, that around the world the princess was being referred to as a 'breath of fresh air' in the House of Windsor. It was Diana the papers seemed most interested in, and before long the retiring and camera-shy princess would eclipse her husband entirely.

The couple had embarked on a whistle-stop tour of Australia and New Zealand following their wedding and Diana had been an instant hit on the other side of the world. Women demanded a 'Lady Di' cut and blow dry at their local salons while her signature spotted frocks and frilly Victorian-style collars were copied on the high street. While it was all rather flattering and laughable at times, privately Diana struggled with her new fame. Married life was not everything she had expected, and, she later complained, in the transition from her uncomplicated life as the unknown Lady Diana Spencer to that of Princess of Wales she had been largely unaided. However, she should have been well prepared for royal life. The youngest daughter of Earl Spencer and Frances Shand Kydd, Diana came from an aristocratic family which had been linked to royalty for over three centuries. Her father had served as an equerry to King George VI and later the Queen, while her mother was the daughter of the fourth Baron Fermoy. Both her grandparents served the royal family: her paternal grandmother Countess Spencer was a lady of the bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, while her maternal grandmother Lady Ruth Fermoy had worked for the royal family for more than thirty years. As a child Diana and her siblings would play with Prince Andrew, who would visit the Spencer family at their home Park House, an impressive mansion nestled amid great oak trees in the sprawling royal estate a short drive from Sandringham, the Queen's Norfolk home.

As a teenager Diana dreaded trips to the royal residence, which she found 'strange', but she got along with Andrew, who was close to her in age, and they would spend hours watching films together in Sandringham's home cinema. Charles had been paired off with Diana's older sister Sarah and they had enjoyed a skiing trip to Klosters, but it was the lissome and gamine Diana who caught the prince's eye at a friend's barbecue in the autumn of 1980. At the time Diana was a nineteen-year-old nursery school teacher living with three girlfriends in Earl's Court. The attentions of the prince, who had been linked with numerous aristocratic suitors known as 'Charlie's Angels' in the British press, was a novel experience for Diana, who had not yet had a serious boyfriend. She immediately fell in love with Charles and was deemed the perfect virgin bride. For several months they managed to keep their courtship clandestine, but the newspapers eventually picked up on the romance. For the hitherto unknown Diana, life changed overnight. Her flat was suddenly besieged by reporters all desperate for nuggets of information about the beautiful aristocrat who had finally won the Prince of Wales. As she sped off in her battered Mini Metro, photographers clinging to the car, the strain showed on her beautiful face. 'It's been very difficult,' her concerned father Earl Spencer remarked.

Incredibly, the couple managed to keep their engagement a secret for three weeks while Diana was in Australia for a holiday, but when she returned there was little option but to make it official. At 11 a.m. on 24 February 1981 Buckingham Palace announced they were to wed. While the prince was largely protected by Palace mandarins, Diana was left to cope with her new celebrity status alone. Her dignified silence won the royal family's approval and Diana moved out of her flat and into the nanny's quarters at Buckingham Palace on the second floor. There Diana complained she felt cut off and isolated and started to have second thoughts. While those around her put her doubts and anxieties down to pre-wedding nerves, it was apparent from the start that Diana and Charles had entered into the marriage with polarised expectations. The princess had dreamed of a romantic escape following their wedding; instead they honeymooned at Balmoral, the royal family's Scottish retreat, together with the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Margaret, Princess Anne and her children Peter and Zara Phillips. It was not the honeymoon Diana had hoped for, and she was flummoxed by the family's strict timetable, which was meticulous even when on holiday.

The Queen's cousin Lady Elizabeth Anson recalled that Diana found the rituals of royal life hard to grasp. By now the princess was suffering from bulimia and could not tolerate the heavy three-course meals which were served at lunch and supper, nor could she fathom having to change for every meal and occasion.

Diana found her holidays to Sandringham and Balmoral tedious right from the start. She could not get to grips with the etiquette of changing her clothes sometimes as many as four or five times a day. The palaces work to their own timetables and Diana found them impossible. It is rather daunting as no one actually tells you when to change between breakfast, lunch, high tea and supper; you just learn. Diana's grandmother was a lady-in-waiting for years so she really should have known the drill.

As Diana wrestled with the royal regime, Charles became increasingly perplexed by what he perceived as his wife's strange behaviour. He could not understand why Diana would shut herself away in their bedroom for hours at a time. The Queen, more astute in such matters, was aware that the transition from carefree young woman to the goldfish bowl of royalty was taking its toll on the sensitive young princess. Amid growing concerns for her health she summoned a doctor to visit Diana, who was by then suffering from depression, but it did little good. The strain showed when the newly-weds posed for their first photo-call on the banks of the River Dee. Against a backdrop of rolling hills and wild heather, Diana said she 'highly recommended' married life as her husband tenderly kissed her hand, but she was unconvincing and looked uncomfortable in the presence of the a.s.sembled press pack. It was only many years later that she admitted she had found her wedding day, which was watched by 500 million people around the world, 'terrifying' and that the pressure of becoming the Princess of Wales was 'enormous'. There had been little time to master the a.s.sorted ceremonies and rituals of state she was expected to carry out as consort to the Prince of Wales and she lacked confidence. As Diana struggled to retain her ident.i.ty behind the mask of royal protocol, rumours of her misery seeped into the newspaper gossip columns, which were obsessed with every twist and turn of the royal marriage. For those watching closely, the strains and tensions were already beginning to pull at this union of two fundamentally different people.

However, when she discovered she was pregnant less than a year into their marriage Diana was overjoyed and busily set about preparing the top-floor nursery in Kensington Palace. A former kindergarten teacher, she loved children and longed to start a family. Her parents' marriage had broken down when she was just six years old, and Diana vividly recalled her parents fighting when her mother Frances produced three daughters but no heir to the Spencer estate. Eventually a son, Charles, was born, but it was not enough to hold the Spencers' marriage together and eventually Frances left the earl for her lover Peter Shand Kydd. Diana recalled the awfulness of listening to her brother sob himself to sleep as her cuckolded father padded sleeplessly through the house. She did not want the same fate for her own children. 'I want my children to have as normal a life as possible,' she remarked, recognising that it was within her power to shape the future of the monarchy. Diana was determined to do things her way, even if it meant going against the grain, which it invariably did. 'I want to bring them up with security, not to antic.i.p.ate things because they will be disappointed. I hug my children to death and get into bed with them at night. I feed them love and affection. It's so important.'Like Charles, Diana had been raised by a governess, but for her security meant being hands on. She was determined that she alone would raise their firstborn and insisted on breastfeeding William. However, with a packed timetable of royal duties and engagements it was soon apparent that a nanny was required.

Diana immediately dismissed Charles's suggestion that his former governess Mabel Anderson should take up the post. She did not want an old-fashioned nanny with outdated ideas looking after her son. After many arguments it was decided that forty-two-year-old Barbara Barnes would join the royal nursery. Miss Barnes believed that children should be allowed to develop at their own pace, which immediately endeared her to Diana. She had come highly recommended by her former employer Lord Glenconner, a close friend of the Queen's sister Princess Margaret, who lived next door to Charles and Diana at Kensington Palace, and during the early years the appointment was a success. It was made clear to Nanny Barnes that she was there to a.s.sist rather than take over. Diana was in charge of the nursery and she and Charles made all the important decisions. Nanny Barnes was told to dispense with her uniform and informed, as were all the staff, that she would be called Barbara. For a shy and demure young woman who had initially found the palace so daunting, Diana's changes were fast taking effect in the royal household.

For the first time since their wedding Diana seemed happy, as did Charles, who wrote to his G.o.dmother Lady Mountbatten of his elation at becoming a father. 'The arrival of our small son has been an astonishing experience and one that has meant more to me than I could ever have imagined.' It was not just Diana who enjoyed spending time with William in the nursery. Charles loved being with her son, and at bath time he would jump into the tub and splash around with William's favourite plastic whale toy. At bedtime he would often give William his bottle before retiring to his study to catch up on his paperwork.

On 4 August 1982, the Queen Mother's eighty-second birthday, William was christened in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace by the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was baptised in the same gown that Charles had worn as a baby. Diana, who kept William from crying with a soothing finger in his mouth during the ceremony, was still upset that Charles had chosen such mature G.o.dparents, among them his close friend and adviser Laurens van der Post. She had wanted younger guardians, but Charles refused to change his mind. Another source of friction was their state visit to Australia and New Zealand the following spring. Diana had been inconsolable at the prospect of leaving William behind for six weeks, and in a further breach of precedent it was agreed that they would take the nine-month-old William with them.

It was the first time a working member of the royal family had ever undertaken an official engagement with a baby and a far cry from Charles's childhood, when he had been left in the care of his governess while the Queen and Prince Philip embarked on a tour of the Commonwealth. During Charles's early years his parents were often overseas. Prince Philip was serving in the Royal Navy in Malta, which meant he barely saw his son for the first year of his life and missed Charles's first two birthdays. Neither Charles nor Diana wanted such an upbringing for William. Times had changed, and with the speed and ease of air travel there was no reason to leave him behind. When Barbara Barnes descended the steps of the Queen's Flight aircraft tightly cradling the baby prince there was no contest over who was the star of the show. William delighted the crowds and revelled in every second of his fame, happily crawling across the lawn in front of Government House in New Zealand for his first official photocall.

It was just two years before Diana discovered she was pregnant again, which was as surprising as it was joyful. Publicly the Waleses had put on a united front, but behind the wrought-iron gates of Kensington Palace the tears in the fabric of their marriage were beginning to show. The couple had not stopped crisscrossing the world, and eighteen months of tours and state visits on top of motherhood had left the vulnerable Diana tired and drained. She later admitted that Harry's conception at Sandringham was 'as if by a miracle' but secretly hoped that the pregnancy would be the glue that would repair the fractures in their marriage. There was a glimmer of hope when she returned from a trip to Norway. On the desk in her study was a note from her husband. 'We were so proud of you,' he had written and signed it 'Willie Wombat and I'. Her joy was to be short-lived, and on top of suffering from morning sickness Diana was convinced that Charles was seeing his ex-girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles.

Charles had first met Camilla in 1970 at a polo match in Windsor. He had been immediately smitten with the attractive and gregarious aristocrat but the following year had joined the navy and was sent on an eight-month naval tour of the Caribbean. By the time he returned Camilla was engaged to Andrew Parker Bowles, a captain in the Household Cavalry. Charles was crushed but determined to keep Camilla as a friend, and they remained close, moving in the same social circles and sharing a pa.s.sion for fox-hunting. Diana, who was aware of their friendship when she first met Charles, became increasingly paranoid about Camilla during her marriage. When Charles disappeared, she would anxiously question their staff on his whereabouts. While the public only saw her smile, behind closed doors she was miserable and later conceded that her second son was born into the end of their marriage.

On Sat.u.r.day 15 September 1984 Diana gave birth to another healthy boy at the same hospital where William was born. Prince Henry Charles Albert David to be known as Harry was delivered at 4.30 p.m., and weighed six pounds, fourteen ounces. Charles, who had fed his wife ice cubes during the nine-hour labour, left Diana's side to tell the waiting crowds the good news before returning to the Palace for a Martini. 'The delivery couldn't have been much better: it was much quicker this time,' he said. According to Diana, who had known from an early scan that she was expecting a boy, her husband's comments were rather more crushing. 'Oh, it's a boy, and he's even got rusty hair,' Charles is understood to have commented. To compound Diana's distress, she was devastated when upon returning home to Kensington Palace, Charles sped off in his Aston Martin to play polo in Windsor Great Park. 'Something inside of me died,' Diana later admitted. The fairy-tale marriage was falling apart.

Chapter 2.

The early years.

William is very much an organiser which probably might be useful in future years ... Harry is more quiet. He's certainly a different character altogether.Diana, Princess of Wales William had earned his nickname 'Basher Wills' with good reason. As he furiously pedalled his bright-yellow plastic truck along the upstairs corridor of Craigowan Lodge he let out a squeal of delight before crashing the toy into the wall for the umpteenth time. Harry, who had learned to walk and was quickly copying everything his older brother did, clapped his hands in glee and beeped the horn of his red tractor. His Christmas present from Granny was smaller but capable of doing just as much damage, and he raced from one end of the long narrow corridor to the other as fast as his little legs could pedal. The boys had been playing for over an hour under the eye of Nanny Barnes, and the evidence of their afternoon of fun was etched all over the wallpaper and skirting boards, which had been badly scuffed. As Nanny Barnes swept up chips of paint from the floor, Diana, dressed in jeans and a warm roll-neck jumper, for it was always cold at Balmoral, came upstairs. 'Whatever will your grandmother say?' Diana exclaimed as she scooped Harry into her arms and planted a kiss on William's head.

Outside it was raining, and while the Queen had spent the afternoon riding across the moors Diana kept the children inside. William had a sniffle, and while the Queen's advice for a common cold was to wrap up warm and brace the elements, Diana had insisted that both boys stayed indoors. Downstairs in her bedroom Diana had been flicking through the collection of magazines she had brought with her from London. She had spent most of the morning on the phone regaling her friends with the utter boredom of the New Year holiday while Charles had spent the morning salmon-fishing. Yet another barbecue had been planned for dinner that night, and Diana was not sure if she could think up a new excuse not to be there. Barbecues were the Duke of Edinburgh's forte, and the weather, no matter how inclement, never put the Windsors off their picnics, which were either enjoyed outside in the summer months or in front of a roaring fire in one of the outhouses on the royal estate during Scotland's wet and windy winters. It never ceased to amaze Diana that with a staff of hundreds the Queen would insist on washing up every plate and utensil before returning to the main house after dinner, having given the household the night off.

The princess had spent the last few evenings having supper with the boys in the nursery, but the Queen and Prince Philip were desperate to spend some time with their grandchildren and had insisted they all ate together that night. They adored the time they got to spend with William and Harry, and when Diana had insisted on moving out of the main house into Craigowan Lodge a mile away the Queen had been crestfallen. Diana, who privately complained to Charles that she felt suffocated at Balmoral, had needed some s.p.a.ce. Knowing it was best not to antagonise her daughter-in-law, the Queen obliged and had offered the couple the use of Craigowan, where she resides when Balmoral is open to the public. When Princess Anne and her children Zara and Peter came to visit, which was at least twice a year, they always stayed in the main house, but Diana was different, and now that they had left, the house was suddenly terribly quiet. 'The Queen was so upset when Diana and the boys moved to the lodge,' recalled her cousin Lady Elizabeth Anson. 'She said, "Why did they have to move? There are so many corridors for them to race down here and it's so quiet now they have gone."'

While the Queen had noticed that William had become quite a handful, she adored her grandsons and encouraged them to let off steam at Balmoral. The boys were free to roam and explore every nook and cranny of the house so loved by Queen Victoria, who bought the estate in 1854. The turrets and sinuous corridors provided hours of fun for the young princes, who loved to play hide-and seek with their father. When they got older their grandfather taught them how to salmon-fish, and the boys would spend hours yomping with him through the wild Scottish countryside, Harry atop Charles's shoulders and William working hard to keep up with Prince Philip's brisk pace. They were happy days and an extension of William and Harry's life at Highgrove, where they escaped the hustle and bustle of London at the weekends.

Charles had bought the 347-acre estate in Gloucestershire in 1980 for over 750,000 from Maurice Macmillan the Conservative MP and son of the former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, and he adored the Georgian house. It was just 120 miles from the centre of London and had the added bonus of a working farm. Conveniently for Charles, as Diana later acknowledged, Highgrove was just a stone's throw from the Parker Bowleses' residence in the town of Allington, near Chippenham.

The prince and princess would arrive in their chauffeur-driven cars Charles alone and Diana with the nursery on Friday night. During the early days life at Highgrove was happy enough. The princess pottered around in the house with the children while Charles would spend hours in the gardens, tending his impressive beds of hydrangeas, sweet peas and roses, and while away afternoons wandering among the pear and plum trees discovering new herbs for his chefs Mervyn Wycherley and Chris Barber to incorporate in their recipes. Although a traditional country house, Highgrove is less grand and much smaller than you might expect for a royal residence. The cream-coloured property comprises two studies, a drawing room, dining room and kitchens on the ground floor, with two floors, primarily living quarters, upstairs.

The impressive grounds, opened to the public every summer, are a mixture of landscaped gardens and overgrown wilderness, reflecting the Prince's taste. Charles once said he had put his 'heart and soul' into Highgrove, and accompanied by his beloved Jack Russell terrier Tigger and her puppy Roo, he was at peace. He desperately hoped both of his sons would inherit his pa.s.sion for gardening. 'I've yet to see which child will take to gardening,' he once said. Thoughtfully he had reserved two small plots of land for William and Harry and invested in child-size tools so that they could tend the garden with him. While Harry loved to dig, as they grew up both boys were more interested in playing war games in their miniature military fatigues than becoming gardeners. While Charles gardened the boys would play army games in their tree house, which had a real thatched roof and windows that opened and shut. They kept rabbits and guinea pigs, which they fed with carrots their mother had chopped, and the highlight of many weekends was diving into a special play pit full of plastic b.a.l.l.s that Charles had created in one of the sheds on the estate. When they played hide-and-seek or big bad wolf this was the most popular hiding place, and the boys would shriek with excitement as their father dived into the colourful sea of b.a.l.l.s to pluck them out in time for tea.

When they were tucked up in bed on the top-floor nursery, Charles liked to entertain. Diana, who was a good decade younger than most of Charles's friends, found she had little in common with his country set. She liked his skiing companions Charles and Patti Palmer-Tomkinson and his old friend from Cambridge Hugh Van Cutsem, a millionaire farmer and pedigree bloodstock breeder, and his Dutch-born wife Emilie, but given the choice preferred to share informal suppers with Charles in front of the television. She did however look forward to visits from her future sister-in-law Sarah Ferguson and Charles's younger brother Andrew.

William and Harry adored their uncle, who was a real-life navy pilot and had fought in the Falklands War. He would entertain them for hours with his war stories and Harry especially was mesmerised. During the summer holidays their cousins Zara and Peter would come to visit, as would their maternal grandmother, 'Granny Frances', who William and Harry adored. Diana was at her happiest when she and her mother could take tea on the terrace and watch the children playing by the swimming pool soaking the royal detectives with their long-range water pistols. They were happy days.

While she claimed to love the countryside, Diana was in truth far happier shopping on Sloane Street. She once confided to Highgrove's housekeeper Wendy Berry, 'It's constantly raining there and Highgrove can be such a ch.o.r.e. The thing is that the children enjoy it, and I go because of them. It's important that they can have somewhere like that to go at weekends.' Instead of joining her husband in the gardens she would stay inside and watch her favourite soaps on the television or chat on the telephone for hours on end to her girlfriends back in London. If the weather was fine she would take the boys into Tetbury with her protection officer Sergeant Barry Mannakee for company. To outsiders it was a picture of domestic bliss, but to those who knew Charles and Diana it was apparent that the twelve-year age gap between them was beginning to cause problems.

Everything about their personalities was different, and they clashed over the simplest things. Diana wanted to listen to pop music and watch movies with her sons, while Charles preferred listening to cla.s.sical music and being outdoors. While Diana loved nothing more than flicking through Vogue Vogue magazine and coming up with new ideas for her wardrobe, Charles would be poring over a philosophical tome in his untidy study, where magazine cuttings and half-finished letters littered the carpet. By 1986 the prince and princess were sleeping in separate bedrooms. Diana blamed Charles's snoring and said she got a better night's sleep in her own room, which was littered with soft toys and photographs of William and Harry. To the millions of royalists who still wanted to believe in the fairy tale all seemed well, but behind the scenes the marriage was in serious trouble. magazine and coming up with new ideas for her wardrobe, Charles would be poring over a philosophical tome in his untidy study, where magazine cuttings and half-finished letters littered the carpet. By 1986 the prince and princess were sleeping in separate bedrooms. Diana blamed Charles's snoring and said she got a better night's sleep in her own room, which was littered with soft toys and photographs of William and Harry. To the millions of royalists who still wanted to believe in the fairy tale all seemed well, but behind the scenes the marriage was in serious trouble.

Summer hung on into September and it was warm enough for shorts when Prince William arrived for his first day of nursery on the morning of Tuesday 24 September 1985. As he tottered up the stairs, the three-year-old prince clasped his Postman Pat flask in one hand and his mother's hand in the other. It was William's first day at Mrs Mynors' nursery school, situated in a pretty tree-lined avenue in west London a stone's throw from Kensington Palace. The Queen had expected William to be educated at home in keeping with tradition, but Diana wanted both her sons to mix with children their own age. It was all a part of her plan to raise the princes as ordinary boys and show the House of Windsor that it could be done successfully. On this occasion Charles was in agreement that William, who could be spoilt and difficult, would benefit from mixing with his peers known as Cygnets, Little Swans and Big Swans at the school.

Diana had allowed William to choose his own outfit, and they had arrived on time, as had the hundreds of photographers who had gathered outside the school gates to take pictures. Diana's wish to integrate her sons in modern society had disadvantages as well as advantages and it was with growing concern that the Queen noted that every stage of her grandsons' young lives was now chronicled in the media. If William had a new haircut or Harry acquired a tooth, it would somehow find its way into the papers. By now William was accustomed to the omnipresent cameras. Unlike Harry, who shied away from the long lenses, William relished the attention and played up to the 'tographers', as he called them. With a wave he had already mastered, the prince smiled broadly before boldly marching through the front door.

Diana would drop William off each morning and collect him in the afternoon, having rearranged her diary around the school run. 'He was so excited about it all,' she recalled. 'He just adored other children. He's very much an organiser, which probably might be useful in future years.' Like any mother, she had been anxious about William settling in, but the prince was popular with his new friends, who had no idea that their fellow Cygnet would one day be king and barely noticed the protection officer who accompanied William twenty-four hours a day and sat quietly at the back of the cla.s.sroom keeping a close eye on his young charge.

When it came to playtime, William, already aware of his princely status, left his fellow pupils in no doubt as to who was in charge. When he got into a sc.r.a.p, a common event for the boisterous youngster, he would draw his play sword and challenge his opponent: 'My daddy's a real prince, and my daddy can beat up your daddy,' he would shout.

Diana and Charles became alarmed that the rumbustious William needed more discipline. At home he often misbehaved. Mealtimes were an ordeal and would frequently end up with William throwing his supper across the table and being banished to the nursery by his exasperated parents. When it came to bedtime he would always demand another story, which had to be read by Papa. The Queen was increasingly aware that her grandson, now four, misbehaved and reminded Nanny Barnes that it was her job to instil discipline.

The real test came in July 1986, when William was a page at Andrew and Sarah's wedding at Westminster Abbey. Diana and Charles were both anxious that he would not sit still and Diana had st.i.tched up the pockets of his starched sailor's outfit to stop him from fidgeting. Instead William rolled the order of service into a trumpet and stuck his tongue out at his cousin Laura Fellowes, who was a bridesmaid.

Meanwhile Harry was growing quickly, and on a warm summer's morning in September 1987, a day after his third birthday, he too enrolled as a Cygnet. William had thrived at the kindergarten and his latest report read, 'Prince William was very popular with other children, and was known for his kindness, sense of fun and quality of thoughtfulness.' Harry, as his father remarked, was the quieter of the two, and having grown accustomed to being bossed around by his older brother, was a follower rather than a natural leader like William. When he arrived at Mrs Mynors' he had not wanted to get out of the car, but after a few days he settled in and busily set about making a pair of binoculars with two loo roll tubes, which he hid behind when photographers tried to take his picture.

'Harry was always more sensitive than William when they were little,' recalled Simone Simmons, a close friend of the princess who spent time with William and Harry when they were growing up. 'William loved being the centre of attention but Harry was quieter. It was not uncommon for him to have a day off from school because he wasn't feeling well. He used to go down with more coughs and colds than William, but it was nothing serious and most of the time I think he just wanted to be at home with his mummy. He loved having her to himself and not having to compete with William.' Harry had had to get used to William being the 'special one' from the start and from a young age was aware of the pecking order. When they were little William would often be invited to Clarence House to see his great-grandmother without Harry. 'I'm off to see Gran Gran,' he would announce, leaving Harry to play alone in the nursery.

Diana was aware that Harry felt left out and doted on him. With his red hair and close-set eyes the little prince was the spitting image of her sister Sarah when she was a child. Diana called him 'my little Spencer' and despite rumours that later surfaced about Harry's paternity (some suggested following Diana's affair with James Hewitt that he could be the father), he was a Spencer through and through. He had also inherited his mother's quick wit. When William announced that he wanted to be a policeman 'and look after mummy', Harry astutely observed that for once the hierarchy of royalty worked in his favour: 'Oh no you can't, you've got to be king!'

Throughout their childhood William was always one rung of the ladder ahead of Harry. On 15 January 1987 he trotted up the steps of Wetherby School under the watchful eye of his new headmistress Frederika Blair-Turner and hundreds of cameras all there to capture his first day. It was bitterly cold and the four-and-a-half-year-old prince was a bundle of nerves as he stepped out of the chauffeur-driven car tightly clasping his mother's hand. Diana had told him not to wave at the cameras and for once he did as he was told. Dressed in his brand-new school uniform, a grey wool blazer with red piping, black shorts and a grey woollen cap, all from Harrods, the young prince seemed far less confident than when he had enrolled at Mrs Mynors', and there was good reason. Back at Kensington Palace it had been an unsettling few days with William in tears after being told that Nanny Barnes was leaving. Diana had decided that after five years it was time for Barbara to move on. Her relationship with her boss had become increasingly fractious, and Diana had observed how strong the bond was between her sons and their nanny. While Diana was travelling the world with her husband, Nanny Barnes had been their surrogate mother. She took them to the Scilly Isles for summer holidays and spoiled them with hamburgers and chips for dinner and chocolate ice cream for dessert. With Barbara, William and Harry were as good as gold, and they adored her. If William woke from a nightmare he would go to 'Baba', and Harry still crept into her bed first thing in the morning before thundering downstairs to jump into bed with his mother.

When he was told Barbara was leaving, William had been inconsolable. Diana had explained that she would be looking after William with Olga Powell, Barbara's a.s.sistant, until they found a new nanny. Secretly she had hoped that by coinciding the dismissal with William's first day at Wetherby it would go unnoticed, but of course the press found out and his nanny's sudden departure was an even bigger story than William's first day at school.

The households at Highgrove and Kensington Palace were not altogether surprised by the news. Over the years the nursery at Highgrove, which had its own kitchen and bathroom, had become Barbara's domain, and the princess had begun to feel excluded. There were tantrums from Diana when she returned home and tried to rea.s.sert her authority, only for the boys to listen to their nanny instead of their mother. While she never criticised her boss, Nanny Barnes complained on occasions that Diana was 'downright rude' and once remarked to Wendy Berry of William, 'It's no good Diana pretending he can have a completely normal life because he can't.' There was a great deal of wisdom in this warning.

It was a Sat.u.r.day afternoon, and instead of travelling to Highgrove William and Harry were with their mother shopping in WH Smith on Kensington High Street. It was a rare treat and so far no one had noticed the royal trio disguised in caps and scarves. Much to William and Harry's delight, their mother had opted for a long brown wig and oversized sungla.s.ses, and they giggled as they strolled hand in hand down the busy high street, which was a five-minute walk from Kensington Palace.

Diana revelled in the fun of it all as she guided William and Harry down the aisles of stationery, books and magazines. Harry headed straight for the comics with brightly coloured covers featuring his favourite action heroes while William set about choosing some new stationery. Very soon he would be starting boarding school and he needed everything from a geometry set to a new pencil case. They had been given their pocket money, which they handed over to the lady at the till, but not before they had each been allowed to choose a packet of sweets. Their eyes lit up as they surveyed the rows of shiny packets and tubes in front of them. Harry being Harry wanted a chocolate bar and and a packet of chewy sweets, but his mother reminded him that he would only have enough money for one. a packet of chewy sweets, but his mother reminded him that he would only have enough money for one.

While none of the royal family generally carried cash, Diana believed it was important that William and Harry understood that the rest of the world survived through hard work and salaries, and she wanted them to understand the value of money from a young age. 'Diana always gave them pocket money, something Charles never did, not because he was mean but because he never understood why the boys needed money,' recalled Simone Simmons. 'They were always accompanied by protection officers, who paid for them, but when they were out with their friends it embarra.s.sed them and they wanted to pay for things themselves.'

'Diana and the boys were ecstatically happy,' recalled d.i.c.kie Arbiter, who handled the prince and princess's media relations. 'It was important for Diana to take her children shopping and do normal things with them. Their favourite day out would include a visit to Smiths followed by a trip to the Odeon cinema, which was just down the road. If they were really lucky, Diana would take them to McDonald's as well.'

On this occasion the boys had behaved so well that Diana decided they deserved a cheeseburger and chips, each of them delighting in personally giving their order to the uniformed sales a.s.sistant who didn't have a clue that the well-spoken customers were in fact the Princess of Wales and her two sons. At a round table in a rear corner of the restaurant the boys wolfed down their Happy Meals and played with the cheap plastic toys that had come with the meal. At the next table their protection officers polished off their own hamburgers. For anyone else it would have been the most normal lunch in the world, but for Diana and the boys it was a special treat made all the more exhilarating by the fact that they were incognito. Such happy times were becoming increasingly rare.

At home the situation between Charles and Diana had become unbearable. The boys' games and laughter dispersed much of the tension, and Charles and Diana tried their hardest to keep their quarrels from William and Harry, but Diana, who craved her husband's attention, was breaking down in tears almost every day. When she came down to Highgrove Charles would speed off to the nearby Beaufort Polo Club in his pristine white breeches. He had inherited his father's love of polo and was in turn to pa.s.s the family pa.s.sion and talent on to the young princes, who would both grow into accomplished players.

Diana found the sport tedious even though she had claimed in a television interview that she adored it. She was not, however, altogether uninterested in polo. She had taken something of a shine to a young red-headed cavalry officer called James Hewitt, who was quite something on the polo pitch. They had met after Diana decided she wanted to learn to ride. She had never been a horsewoman, but after seeing how much pleasure it brought her sons decided to have a go. The handsome Hewitt became her instructor and soon became a regular visitor to Highgrove, where he would help William and Harry improve their trotting and cantering. The staff noticed that when Charles was away the dashing officer became a more regular visitor, and his arrival was always guaranteed to lift Diana's spirits. It would be another year before the British press exposed their secret friendship.

Chapter 3.

Off to school.

It's quite something, putting one's eldest into school.Diana, Princess of Wales Prince William charged into the garden slamming the door behind him. He could not bear to hear his parents bicker any longer. 'I hate you, Papa. I hate you so much. Why do you make Mummy cry all the time?' he had shouted angrily as Diana broke down again. William had been aware for some time that his parents were not happy. The princess had become increasingly dependent on her elder son, who she regularly confided in, and it was William who would pa.s.s his mother tissues through the bedroom door as she sobbed on the other side.

It was a heavy burden for a young boy, and there was a great sense of relief, among the staff at Kensington Palace at least, when William went away to school. Charles and Diana agreed that the boys-only boarding school Ludgrove in Berkshire would be perfect for their elder son. Set in 130 acres of unspoilt countryside, it had an excellent reputation for sport as well as an impressive academic record. William had been worried and apprehensive about leaving home for the first time. It was 10 September 1990, and as the chauffeur-driven Bentley pulled up at the 2,350-a term school Diana blinked back tears. William, who was eight years old, was dressed in his new uniform of corduroy trousers and tweed jacket. This time it was Diana who clasped her boy's hand. Her elder son was leaving the nest and things would never be the same again.

Meanwhile in the front pa.s.senger seat Charles was also in reflective mood. His school days had been the unhappiest of his life, and he desperately hoped his son would not be subjected to the bullying he had endured at Cheam School in Surrey. He had cleared his diary to be with William after the criticism he had faced in the newspapers for not turning up for his first day of prep school. By now Charles and Diana's private lives were headline news, and the prince suspected that the source of many of the stories was his wife. When Charles was on a painting holiday in Italy in May 1988 Harry had been rushed to Great Ormond Street Hospital to have an emergency hernia operation. The British press had again noted Charles's absence even though he had made half-hour checks via the telephone. This time he was not going to give his wife any ammunition.

Diana had spent the morning double-checking William's trunk, which had been carefully packed by his new nanny Ruth Wallace. It contained his favourite wombat toy, which she always placed next to his pillow, and everything else he would need for his first term. At Ludgrove, once William was settled, Diana sped up the M4 back to Apartments 9 and 10 of Kensington Palace while Charles returned to Highgrove. By now the Waleses were living separate lives.

For William, who had matured from a boisterous child into a sensitive boy, school proved to be a relief from the turmoil at home. William and Harry had only just got used to Nanny Ruth, who whisked them upstairs when discussions became heated between their parents, but now she was leaving and would be replaced by Jessie Webbe.

William found comfort in the routine at Ludgrove. The day began shortly after seven o'clock, when he would wash and dress for breakfast. Lessons did not start until 9 a.m., and William liked to fit in a quick game of football before the first cla.s.s. Lessons continued until 5.20 p.m., when the boys were free to play more sport before supper, and after chapel it was lights out at 8 p.m. The school's amiable headmaster Gerald Barber had been quietly informed by Diana about the complicated situation at home and had promised to keep a close eye on William. Both he and his wife Janet would become key figures in William and Harry's lives as their parents' marriage finally fell apart.

Despite his initial nerves, William had at least one familiar face at his side at all times. His protection officers were Sergeant Reg Spinney, a former marine, and Graham Cracker, known as 'Crackers' to the boys and all the staff at Kensington Palace. They lived in private accommodation on the perimeter of the school grounds next to the tennis courts and the art school. Both had been told to keep their distance from William and allow him s.p.a.ce and time with his peers. If anything, having the avuncular detectives around made William immediately popular with his dorm-mates, who found the high-tech tracking devices they used to keep an eye on their royal charge fascinating.

Aware that the Waleses increasingly fraught domestic situation was making the front pages of the daily newspapers, the Barbers sensibly banned them from the school library, and television was restricted and supervised. By now nearly every row appeared to be catalogued in the daily press and on the princess's thirtieth birthday the Daily Mail Daily Mail 's gossip columnist Nigel Dempster broke a story about the couple rowing over a birthday party. C 's gossip columnist Nigel Dempster broke a story about the couple rowing over a birthday party. CHARLES AND AND D DIANA: C CAUSE FOR FOR C CONCERN ran the headline. Charles had apparently wanted to throw a party for his wife, but Diana, knowing it was a facade, was having none of it and insisted that she would not be celebrating. ran the headline. Charles had apparently wanted to throw a party for his wife, but Diana, knowing it was a facade, was having none of it and insisted that she would not be celebrating.

By now both sides were leaking stories to the press and this particular piece of propaganda appeared to have emanated from Charles's court. The staff at Highgrove and Kensington Palace were also split, with Diana's household, which included her private chef Darren McGrady and butler Paul Burrell, based at Kensington, and Charles's team of aides in Gloucestershire. As a member of staff you were either with the prince or the princess, and there was a great deal of mistrust between the two camps. Diana claimed she was always careful of what she said at Highgrove as information in unsympathetic hands could be used against her. According to the prince and princess's spokes -man d.i.c.kie Arbiter, who was vainly trying to stem the torrent of stories pouring out of the royal household at the time, Ludgrove helped to shelter the boys from their troubled home life.

The boys had access to the newspapers at Kensington Palace because Diana used to read them. It was very easy for them to see the front pages. Given what was going on in William's life at the time, Ludgrove was extremely good at protecting him and later Harry. It took them out of troubled waters. The media couldn't get onto the grounds. It was very sheltered apart from a public footpath between the school and the playing fields which could be accessed by photographers.

'The Barbers were more than equipped to deal with the princes. William and Harry weren't the only members of a royal family to attend the school and they certainly weren't the only children to come from dysfunctional homes,' recalled a former pupil. 'The Barbers made it their sole mission to shield William and Harry from what was going on at home.' At weekends William would return home but the constant rowing was a reminder of just how unhappy his parents were. Diana tried her hardest to make William feel settled and comfortable and had the larder stocked with his favourite treats. She encouraged him to bring his new schoolfriends home, and their next-door neighbours Lord Freddie and Lady Ella Windsor, the children of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, would often come over to ride their BMX bikes through the palace gardens.

Both Diana and Charles were delighted with how well William settled in at Ludgrove. He was in the top stream for most of his subjects and one of the best swimmers at the school. He also captained the rugby and hockey teams. Despite their feuding, Diana and Charles made an effort to visit William. 'Diana would often drive to Ludgrove to watch football and rugby matches,' said a former pupil. 'She would sit on the bench and watch William play. I remember one time I was sitting out because I was injured and Diana was very concerned about how I'd hurt myself. There was never a big deal when she showed up at the school and she seemed to like that. For us boys she was just William and Harry's pretty mummy, not a princess.'

On sports days William and his father would compete in the clay pigeon shooting compet.i.tion, which they won in 1995. William was just four when he accompanied his father to Sandringham to watch his first shoot, and like Charles he was an impressive shot from a young age. At Christmas Charles and Diana would attend the school's annual carol service and watch William when he was in school plays. He loved dressing up and appear ing on the stage and became the head of Ludgrove's dramatic society, much to his parents' delight. Kitty Dimbleby, daughter of Prince Charles's official biographer Jonathan Dimbleby, recalled that Charles would arrange theatre trips for his sons during the school holidays: Charles invited us to a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream A Midsummer Night's Dream in Stratford-upon-Avon one Easter, and William and Harry loved it. Charles was incredibly proud of them and they had so much fun together that day. We all met at Highgrove and I remember being in the car with William and Harry who was blowing raspberries at his dad through the window. There was a lot of joking around and it was a very normal and lovely family day out. Charles seemed so happy to be with his boys and they with him. I do remember William being distracted by what was going on at home. At the time there was a lot in the newspapers about Charles and Diana's marriage being in trouble and William told me 'Papa never embarra.s.ses me but Mummy sometimes does.' in Stratford-upon-Avon one Easter, and William and Harry loved it. Charles was incredibly proud of them and they had so much fun together that day. We all met at Highgrove and I remember being in the car with William and Harry who was blowing raspberries at his dad through the window. There was a lot of joking around and it was a very normal and lovely family day out. Charles seemed so happy to be with his boys and they with him. I do remember William being distracted by what was going on at home. At the time there was a lot in the newspapers about Charles and Diana's marriage being in trouble and William told me 'Papa never embarra.s.ses me but Mummy sometimes does.'

Publicly the prince and princess put their troubles behind them and when William was injured in a freak playground accident in June 1991 they both rushed to be with him. William had been playing with a friend on the school's putting green when he was accidentally struck on the head with a golf club. Diana, who had been lunching at San Lorenzo, her favourite Knightsbridge restaurant, went white according to her bodyguard Ken Wharfe, who received the news on his pager, and it was an agonising journey from London to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading. When she arrived it was decided that William should be transferred from Reading to Great Ormond Street so that he could be checked over by a brain specialist. While Charles, who had driven from Highgrove to Reading, followed in convoy, Diana sat in the ambulance with her son holding his hand. At Great Ormond Street he was diagnosed with a depressed fracture and underwent a seventy-minute corrective operation which left him with twenty-four st.i.tches. Charles and Diana waited anxiously at the hospital, but when they were informed that the operation had been successful and William was fine, Charles sped off to the Royal Opera House for an official engagement. Diana was used to her husband's habit of putting duty before family, but the press turned on the prince. WHAT K KIND OF OF A A D DAD A ARE Y YOU? asked the asked the Sun Sun on its front page. Fortunately William made a speedy recovery, and although he was advised not to ride his pony, he was back at school within days showing off his war wound. Today he still bears a reminder of the accident, which he calls his Harry Potter scar. on its front page. Fortunately William made a speedy recovery, and although he was advised not to ride his pony, he was back at school within days showing off his war wound. Today he still bears a reminder of the accident, which he calls his Harry Potter scar.

Harry hurled a pillow with all his might. It hit his target on the head, and as his latest victim toppled from his bed the prince let out a jubilant shout. It was after lights out, and the boys knew there would be trouble if Mr Barber discovered they were still up. Harry had only been at Ludgrove a matter of weeks but he was loving it. He had got off to a wobbly start and been terribly homesick when he started in September 1992, but William soon helped him settle in, and matron, who had taken an immediate shine to the cheeky little redhead, had allowed him to sit in her room and watch Star Trek Star Trek with a cup of cocoa. It was not long before Harry had persuaded her to allow his dorm-mates to join him. Charles had once remarked that his younger son was the one 'with the more gentle nature', but in his final year at Wetherby, once William had left, Harry had come out of his sh.e.l.l. He was more talkative and confident in cla.s.s, and at home his parents noticed a change in the brothers' characters. William, who was deeply affected by the breakdown of his parents' marriage because he was more aware of what was going on, had become quieter and more sensitive. He preferred to curl up on the sofa and watch movies with his mother, while Harry would be in the paddock showing off his latest tricks on his pony Smokey. He had grown into an accomplished horseman, and Marion c.o.x, who had taught both boys to ride from the age of two, had long dispensed with her rein. Now Harry was cantering and jumping fences, and it was not just on horseback that he was beginning to emerge as a daredevil. When their mother took them skiing to Lech during a half-term vacation in March 1991, it was Harry, then only six, who was the first to race down the slopes with his instructor. with a cup of cocoa. It was not long before Harry had persuaded her to allow his dorm-mates to join him. Charles had once remarked that his younger son was the one 'with the more gentle nature', but in his final year at Wetherby, once William had left, Harry had come out of his sh.e.l.l. He was more talkative and confident in cla.s.s, and at home his parents noticed a change in the brothers' charac