That’s what Eton’s grown-ups are trying to provide for the young prince. The school’s administrators have warned all students and staff that dismissal is the penalty for. anyone leaking stories about William to the press. For Heathcote herself, caring for the heir entails some unusual chores. It’s her job to screen his daily newspapers and weed out any hurtful stories about his parents. And she has taken to keeping the royal underpants under lock and key, to thwart any prankish schoolmate’s thoughts of pilfering them for fun or profit.
If William can ever find respite from the burdens of celebrity, Eton is probably the place for it. Eton boys are scarcely inclined to resent the children of extraordinary wealth and privilege: that’s who they are themselves. “The students there aren’t frightened of important people,” says one member of the class of 1973. It’s a different world from Gordonstoun, the Scottish school Prince Charles attended. Gordonstoun draws its students from a much wider social range than Eton, and Charles has recalled his brutal hazing at the hands of schoolmates who were afraid of being labeled “suck-ups” if they were friendly. Still, boys will be boys-even at Eton. When an Italian magazine published nude photos of Charles, someone faxed copies of them to Eton, addressed to William. The prime suspects: Eton upperclassmen.
Sooner or later, William will have to adjust to his unsought fame. Last month the fan magazine Smash Hits ran a pullout poster of the young prince–in response to reader demand, the magazine said. “He’s a kind of preteenage idol,” says Harold Brooks-Baker, of Burke’s Peerage. “A monarchy based on popularity has to take this sort of thing seriously.” The young heartthrob might get some guidance from his father, who once bore the burden of being the World’s Most Eligible Bachelor. William is already far handsomer than Charles ever was. And, if Diana has her way, he may become king first.
