In rare exchange with the press, William talks about his life and the legacy of Princess Diana Prince William faced the media Friday at a press conference in Highgrove, revealing that he will join an expedition to South America on the next stage of his "gap year."
MSNBC STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS LONDON, Sept. 29 Britain’s Prince William said Friday that he felt "upset" by a new book that portrays his late mother, Princess Diana, as a scheming liar. The 18-year-old prince, second in line to the throne, also disclosed that he plans to join an expedition to Chile before going to university.
WILLIAM’S APPEARANCE was the royal heir’s lengthiest contact with the press in his 18 years. The royal palace and Britain’s press authority has ordered media to leave the prince alone. His rare appearances are carefully managed by the royal family. William has just returned from the island of Rodrigues in the Indian Ocean where he was involved in marine conservation projects. The young prince told reporters that he and his 16-year-old brother Harry took exception to the book by Diana’s former private secretary, Patrick Jephson, which accused the royal family of turning the princess into a “scheming rebel.” "Of course, Harry and I were quite upset about it, that our mother’s trust has been betrayed and that even now she is still being exploited. "But I don’t want to say any more on that," William said. Royal watchers said the prince had been debating for the past week or so whether to issue a statement about the book. Jephson, who worked for Diana for more than seven years, said in "Shadows of a Princess" that the royals treated her with indifference instead of reaching out to her.
Earlier this month Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles took the rare step of issuing a public statement deploring the planned publication of Jephson’s book, which they said would be upsetting for Diana’s sons and family. Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997. Her failed marriage to heir-to-the-throne Charles ended in divorce in 1996. Jephson has defended the book as a “truthful and balanced account” of his time with the princess.
REMOTE PATAGONIA William, speaking at his father’s house at Highgrove in western England, said he wanted “to do something constructive” during his 10 weeks in Chile. Buckingham Palace said he would travel to some of the most remote parts of Patagonia, where he would work alongside 110 other young volunteers on environmental and community projects. The prince said he had raised $8,000 through a sponsored water polo match to pay his own costs and to enable a disadvantaged young person from the northeastern city of Newcastle to join the expedition. Casually dressed in a brown pullover, the prince often lowered his gaze from the cameras in a way that reminded onlookers of his late mother. It had been his own choice to go to Patagonia with the Raleigh International exposition. “I was just talking with friends and they said it was good idea and I just sort of liked the idea,” he said. While he is in Chile, the prince will keep in touch with his father via e-mail until he returns home before Christmas.
William, who plans to attend St Andrews University in Scotland next year, refused to be drawn out on any further plans. My plans aren’t quite solid. I’m hugely disorganized, you see, so once I sort it out you’ll probably find out,” he said. He praised the media for agreeing to leave him alone while he was a schoolboy at Eton College, which he left this year. It made a real big difference with everyone not trying to sort of snap a picture every time I was walking around the streets,” he said. “I hope it just continues for Harry as well when he is there.”
MSNBC.com’s Preston Mendenhall in London and Reuters contributed to this story.