Britain: The Princely Life

As he stood on the sidewalk in front of the Great Gate at Trinity College, Cambridge, and waited for an arrival who was already 14 minutes overdue, Trinity Master Lord Butler was somewhat bemused by his position. “It is the first time I have met a student here,” he remarked to bystanders. Moments later, a red Mini pulled up and the gangly frame of Prince Charles unfolded from the tiny car. After much public debate in Britain over the proper education of the heir apparent, the Prince of Wales had come to Cambridge to finish his formal schooling. Though two of his kingly forebears had attended Cambridge, Charles was the first royal heir to become a university man since his grandfather, George VI, and the first in history to attend as a normal undergraduate.

The prince was greeted by the Trinity staff, handed the key to his rooms and quickly introduced to the routine of college life. He eats with the other undergraduates at the scrubbed oaken tables in hall, wears a blue academic gown, is assigned an ordinary three-room suite in one of the “newer” dormitories and shares a toilet and bath with ten other undergraduates on the E stairwell, where Sir Isaac Newton, Lord Macaulay and Thackeray also had rooms. His only special luxury is a telephone in his rooms. His personal bodyguard has moved to another location in the college and will unobtrusively tail him around the town.

More Like Mother. As his fellow students quickly discovered, Charles is not an easy person to get to know. Though he has the hands-behind-the-back stance and long stride of his father, he lacks Prince Philip’s talent for light banter. Prince Charles is, in fact, shy, withdrawn and, like his mother, painfully reserved. In his first week at Cambridge, he made no attempts to get to know fellow students, walked around the college grounds alone with his head down. He will probably mix eventually; after five years at Cheam, then five more at his father’s old school of Gordonstoun in Scotland, he gained a good deal of self-confidence during a six-month stay at Timbertop, the roughing-it school in Australia from which he returned last year.

At Cambridge, Prince Charles selected the rather unusual course of archaeology and anthropology (taken by only 50 other undergraduates). On the basis of past performances, he is bright enough; he passed standard British pre-college examinations with top marks. At the end of each year, he will take exams that will indicate how well he performs in the demanding climate of Cambridge. He still is not sure whether he will leave at the end of two years or stay the three required for a degree.

Strictly Traditional. At 18, Charles reflects none of the wacky mod world of today’s Britain. His clothes are traditional British tweeds and flannels. His hair, once shaggy locks that obscured his forehead, is now somewhat better tamed and brushed to the side. He goes to the theater in London occasionally, but has never been seen at a nightclub and, aside from sneaking a cherry brandy as a schoolboy, is known to drink nothing stiffer than an occasional sip of champagne. He does not smoke. He is good at gentlemen’s sports—polo, shooting, sailing—but does not have any interest in such traditional British team sports as rugby and cricket.

Prince Charles likes pop music well enough, but really prefers classical. He plays the electric guitar, the cello and the trumpet. His only close friends are in the family—his Gloucester cousins, Prince William, 25, and Prince Richard, 23, and a German cousin, Prince Guelf of Hannover. He is occasionally seen squiring a pretty girl about London, and the Queen gives private dances for him at Windsor Castle. The girls, however, are invariably old friends from childhood or sisters of schoolmates. So far, there has been no hint of a romance in the prince’s life.

After Cambridge, Prince Charles is expected to enter the navy for a tour of duty. Since Queen Elizabeth is only 41, the Prince of Wales is likely to spend a large part of his life preparing himself to become King Charles III. He is well paid for his efforts. Since he turned 18 last November, he has had an annual income of $84,000 from rents on royal lands. When he turns 21, the sum will go up to $560,000.