The Couple

Facts about Britain's Prince William

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-04-27 13:31

Britain's Prince William and his girlfriend Kate Middleton are to get married on April 29.

Here are some details about William:

* EARLY LIFE:

-- Born William Arthur Philip Louis on June 21, 1982 at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, west London, he is the elder son of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana and second in line to the throne.

-- After attending Mrs Mynors School, Prince William became a pupil at Wetherby School in London until 1990 and then Ludgrove School in Berkshire, until 1995. He then attended Eton College. William studied at St Andrews University in Scotland and graduated in Geography in 2005.

* HIS MOTHER DIANA:

-- Prince William was 15 when Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in a car crash in Paris at the end of August 1997. William and his younger brother Prince Harry walked behind their mother's cortege at her funeral procession in London.

* MILITARY SERVICE:

-- William joined the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as an Officer Cadet and was commissioned as an army officer in front of the Queen at Sandhurst in December 2006 and joined the Household Cavalry (Blues and Royals) as a Second Lieutenant.

-- William graduated as a search and rescue pilot with the Royal Air Force in September 2010.

* KATE MIDDLETON:

-- William met Kate Middleton at St Andrews University in Scotland, where they both began studying in September 2001. They shared a four-bedroom house in the town and went on several holidays together.

-- Intolerable media intrusion was cited by many sources as the reason they broke up in 2007, but they soon got back together and will marry on April 29.

* OFFICIAL ENGAGEMENTS:

-- William and Kate returned to St Andrews university on February 25, with an official visit to mark the university's 600th anniversary. It followed their first official outing as a couple the day before, where Middleton's appearance at a boat launch ceremony in Wales was lauded in the royalty-obsessed British media.

-- Both William and Kate visited Belfast on March 8 amid tight security.

-- William flew out to New Zealand and Australia in March to represent Queen Elizabeth at a national memorial service in New Zealand for victims of a devastating earthquake which killed at least 166 people and to tour flood-damaged areas of Queensland, Australia.