Great responsibilities will rest on his shoulders one day. But in the meantime, Prince William is going back to being a student.
The future king starts a ten-week course in agricultural management at Cambridge University next week.
The ‘bespoke’ course has been organised for the 31-year-old Duke of Cambridge to give him an understanding of issues affecting farms and rural communities.
It will also, no doubt, come in handy when he inherits the Duchy of Cornwall, one of the biggest private estates in the country, from his father.
The second in line to the throne, who has a geography degree from St Andrew’s University, will have around 20 hours a week of timetabled lectures, seminars and meetings.
He will also be expected to undertake extensive study in his own time and may be sent on field trips.
Although he will still be based at Kensington Palace with the Duchess of Cambridge and son George, staff have organised private accommodation for the prince when he needs to stay in Cambridge.
He is likely to be away from home two or three nights a week. The course is run by Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership, an institution within the university’s School of Technology and has Prince Charles as its patron.
However, Prince William will be based in the Department of Land Economy, teasingly referred to by other students as the ‘Department of Grass Management’.
The Duke will not be awarded any qualification at the end of the course, which he is set to finish in mid-March – shortly before he sets off on an official tour of New Zealand and Australia with his family. An aide said: ‘Like his father, the Duke is very much a countryman, he enjoys and is passionate about the countryside and its people.
‘He will continue to take an interest in and champion rural communities but this course will also, of course, be useful to him in future years.’ The cost of the study and accommodation is being met privately, a Kensington Palace spokesman said yesterday.
Aides were also quick to stress that as it was being organised specially for the prince, there was no question of any other student places being affected.
Prince William quit operational service with the Armed Forces in September after more than seven years. His most recent posting was as a search and rescue pilot with the RAF based in Anglesey, North Wales.
In the autumn, Kensington Palace announced that the Duke did not plan to become a full-time working royal immediately, preferring a ‘transitional period’ in which he would undertake public service and work experience-style placements ranging from government departments to charity offices.
Critics, however, have accused the prince of being ‘workshy’ and derided that plan as little more than an extended gap year.
Prince Charles graduated with a 2:2 degree in history at Trinity College Cambridge after studying there from 1967 to 1970. His father, the Duke of Edinburgh, served as chancellor of the university from 1976 to 2011.
综合外国媒体12月30日报道，英国剑桥公爵威廉王子将从下周开始在剑桥大学就读农业管理课程。
该课程属于剑桥大学可持续发展领导力项目，以讲座、研讨会等形式授课，每周20小时左右，主要目的是让威廉了解当代农业经营和农村社区。威廉将自行承担大量研究，撰写论文，可能还会去农村实地考察。该课程将持续10周，从1月初开始，到3月中旬结束，结业后不会授予证书。
毫无疑问，此次学习会在威廉从父亲手中继承康沃尔公爵领地时派上用场，该领地横跨23个郡，占地面积13万英亩（约5.26公顷）。一位助手说：“和他的父亲一样，（剑桥）公爵在很大程度上是个乡下人，他喜欢农村和农民，对他们充满热情。”
肯辛顿宫发言人日前表示，学费和住宿费还在私下商讨中，将由王室自付。助手们强调，该课程是为威廉专门设置的，不会影响其他学生。另据报道，威廉仍然和凯特王妃、乔治小王子一起住在肯辛顿宫，但是工作人员也为他在剑桥安排了私人住宿，一周中他可能有两三晚不能住在家中。
威廉今年9月从英国皇家空军退役，他将在未来几个月里承担大量的王室工作，替女王和爱丁堡公爵分忧。不过肯辛顿宫此前曾宣布，威廉并不打算马上承担全职的皇家工作，他更倾向于有一个“过渡期”，在这个期间里他想从事从政府部门到慈善机构的一些公共服务。
早在2005年，威廉就获得了圣安德鲁斯大学二等一级地理学学位，并在这里遇到了现在的妻子凯特。此后他在桑赫斯特英国皇家陆军军官学院接受了44周的军事训练，并于2008年进入英国皇家空军服役，在近期退役前担任皇家空军搜救直升机的驾驶员。
