Prince William to Attend St. Andrews

L O N D O N, Aug. 17, 2000 -- Britain’s Prince William willstudy at St. Andrews, Scotland’s oldest university, after takinga year off, his father’s office said today.

The 18-year-old prince, son of heir-to-the-throne PrinceCharles and the late Princess Diana, will start a four-yearcourse for a degree in art history in the autumn of 2001.

“Prince William has been accepted to attend the universityof his first choice, the University of St. Andrews,” St. James’sPalace said in a statement.

“Prince William has now left the country for the first stageof his gap year.”

Heads to Central America

First stop is Belize in Central America, where Britain’sfuture king is joining exercises with the Welsh Guards — inwhich his father is a colonel — until the end of August. Afterthat he will spend a few weeks on what the palace called an“educational project.” The palace said details of the next part of the prince’syear off would be released in late September, but it remindedthe media to respect his privacy in keeping with the sternwarning recently issued by the Press Complaints Commission.

On Wednesday, the Daily Express newspaper said William wouldspend some of his time traveling in Australia.

William had been awaiting the results of his school-leavingexams before picking his university. He got an A in geography, aB in history of art and a C in biology.

‘Excellent Results’

“I know how hard William worked to achieve these excellentresults and I am very proud that he has done so well,” PrinceCharles said in the statement.

Tall, handsome and regal, William will undoubtedly turnheads when he joins the 5,000 students at St. Andrews, set in themedieval seaside town an hour north of Edinburgh that isalready famous as the home of golf.

Steeped in tradition, the university’s many private dinnerparties afford it the reputation as a home away from home forLondon’s young socialites.

The prince can look forward to a social whirl that peaks atthe annual May Ball put on by the all-male Kate Kennedy club,which was founded in honor of the first woman to attend theuniversity.