In the weeks since classes started on Sept. 24, the heir -- who goes by the name William Wales on campus and, unlike his father, Prince Charles, has discouraged others from addressing him as "Prince" or "Sir" -- has tried to live like any other freshman at the 590-year-old university. He sleeps in a dorm room and shops (albeit with his ever-present bodyguard) at the local Tesco's supermarket at the center of the town of St. Andrews (pop. 16,000). He attends lectures with as many as 200 other students. Early evenings are spent reading or hanging out with mates over a pint of beer (Britain's drinking age of 18 makes William legal) at the Westport, Ma Bells or other pubs near campus. Despite his low profile, the lines outside local hot spots like Broons bar snake down the block, thanks to a larger student body -- a result of William's enrollment. What's more, the regular Friday-night disco, put on by the Students Association and known as the Bop, is selling out by an unprecedented 4 p.m.

William hopes the novelty will soon wear off. "It will get easier as time goes on," he told Press Association reporter Sam Greenhill in September. "Everyone will get bored of me."

Those who don't may have more luck finding William in the college library than on the dance floor. "I saw him there in the second week," says a fellow student. "He must be a bit of a swot (nerd)." The prince is currently enrolled in three courses -- art history, social anthropology and one yet-to-be-announced subject (likely to be geography or international relations). He attends four art history lectures a week, mostly in Buchanan Hall, a concrete building just one minute from his residential hall. Once a week William will swap art history notes with other members of his tutorial group, made up of half a dozen students and a lecturer. "I think, quite honestly, he's just a normal student," says one St. Andrews art history instructor. "A normal student with a wonderful private art collection who might be able to say, 'Yes, I know that work. It's hanging in my grandmother's hall.' "

His new home is St. Salvator's Hall ("Sallies" to students), a coed dorm overlooking the iron-gray North Sea. His 15-ft.-by-15-ft. room (a bodyguard sleeps in adjoining quarters) "has very standard issue curtains, carpets," says a former resident. "It is rather drab." The same could be said of Sallies' dining hall. Gripes one third-year student: "I have friends who spend thousands of pounds each year eating out because they don't like the food." William, who stands to inherit a $1.45 billion fortune some day, is expected occasionally to do the same. "I'm not a party animal, despite what some people might think," he said in September. "But I like to go out sometimes like anyone else."