Prince William: Snapshot

Name
Prince William
Date of Birth
June 21, 1982
Birth Place
London, England
If anyone can says he's had a storybook life, it's Prince William – the first-born son of England's beloved Princess Diana and the second in line (after his father, Prince Charles) to become King.

The fairy tale took a tragic turn when William and his younger brother, Harry, lost their mother when they were 15 and 12, respectively. But the same press that hounded Diana gave the young princes reasonable privacy as they grew up.

William matured into an accomplished Prince Charming who, in 2002, was taken off the market by fellow St. Andrews college student Kate Middleton. The prince, an officer in the Royal Army, married in a fairy tale ceremony at London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, ennobling the royal duo as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

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Prince William: Five Fun Facts

  1. When Prince William was seven, he told Princess Diana that he wanted to be a policeman so he could look after her, according to Vanity Fair. But five-year-old Harry responded, "Oh, no you can't. You've got to be King!"
  2. When Prince William, 13, said he had a crush on Cindy Crawford, his mum Diana invited the supermodel to join them for tea. Crawford fulfilled William's dream when she came to the palace on Easter in 1996.
  3. At 15, Prince William ranked No. 1 on the men's list in the annual International Best-Dressed Poll. The selection committee of fashion editors and members of the Best-Dressed Hall of Fame praised William for inspiring "a fresh, younger classicism among Savile Row tailors," according to the Houston Chronicle.
  4. Pop singer Britney Spears says she was once stood up by Prince William. "We exchanged e-mails for a little bit, and he was supposed to come and see me somewhere, but it didn't work out," she told a British TV host in 2002.
  5. In honor of Prince William's 21st birthday, Britain's Royal Mail placed William's strapping image on over 20 million stamps.

Prince William: Biography

1981

Prince William

July 29

Born into Royalty

Prince Charles, 32, marries Lady Diana Spencer, 20, in a lavish wedding at St. Paul's Cathedral with 750 million people tuning in worldwide. On June 21, 1982, the royals welcome their first son, His Royal Highness Prince William Arthur Philip Louis Windsor of Wales. The newborn is the second in line for the British throne following his father. Prince Charles tells PEOPLE of his son, "He has the good fortune not to look like me." Two years later, they welcome Prince Harry.

1983

Mother's Common Touch

Princess Diana displays a hands-on parenting approach uncommon among the royals and takes nine-month-old William along when she and Prince Charles make an official visit to Australia.

1990

Prince William

Mama's Boy

As a young boy, William becomes his mother's closest confidant, "soul mate" and "chief comforter," according to Vanity Fair's Christopher Anderson in 2003. Anderson details an incident when 8-year-old William slips tissues under a bathroom door to his crying mother after she quarreled with Charles at Highgrove, the royal retreat in Gloucestershire.

Read More on Prince William's Life

Photo Credits

BIOGRAPHY (top to bottom): Tim Graham/Getty; Tim Graham/AP

Edited by Janet Mock and Julia Wang

Prince William

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