WILLIAM: THE FIRST INTERVIEW: BETRAYAL OF TRUST
Prince reveals anger over Diana aide's book

HIS ROYAL STYLISHNESS: Suntanned Prince William yesterday, smiling confidently and cutting a fashion dash in his denim jeans and Thomas Burberry sweater Pictures KENT GAVINPRINCE William's furious outburst at Patrick Jephson yesterday followed a string of briefings on the former aide's treacherous book about Princess Diana.

The 18-year-old prince ordered that he be kept up to date on the book's serialization in a Sunday newspaper while on a trip to the Indian Ocean earlier this month.

He was given further briefings on what he branded a "betrayal of trust" on his return last Sunday.

Wills agonized over whether to comment on the issue when he was interviewed live by the media for the first time yesterday as he disclosed plans for his gap year.

Advisers were worried that anything he said might fuel publicity for the book which deals with the most turbulent years of Diana's life.

But at the last minute - partly at Wills's insistence and after talks with his father Prince Charles - it was decided to go ahead.

Wills then told for the first time of the distress the book has caused him and brother Harry, 16.

Watched by Charles and three senior members of St James's Palace staff, he said: "Harry and I are quite upset about it - that our mother's trust has been betrayed and that even now she is still being exploited."

After his abrupt dismissal of Jephson - Diana's private secretary from 1990 to 1996 - he added: "I don't want to say anything else at the moment."

Time will tell whether his comments will have any effect on sales.

But most people will be sympathetic to the plight of Diana's sons. By discrediting Jephson, Wills may touched a nerve with the public.

The ex-aide's book, Shadows Of A Princess, paints Diana as a cold, manipulative woman who plotted against staff and Charles's family.

The Queen and Charles were so horrified by the breach of trust they issued a statement "deeply deploring" the book's publication. Yesterday Jephson, 44, fled his home in Parsons Green, west London, after The Mirror told him of the prince's tongue-lashing. He was driven away in a black sports car by his live-in girlfriend.

Last night, he said in a statement: "I respect and understand Prince William's comments today.

"I am sure that when the whole book is read it will eventually be seen to be truthful and sympathetic to the memory of the late princess.''

William is taking a year out before starting a four-year BA course in History of Art at Scotland's University of St Andrew's.

Yesterday he revealed he will spend the time in Patagonia, in Chile, with Raleigh International helping community projects and trekking across the snow-capped Andes.

In a 10-minute interview at Charles's Highgrove home he disclosed he raised nearly pounds 5,500 for the trip by organizing a sponsored water-polo match.

Wills said: "Basically, I wanted to do something constructive in my gap year and thought this was a way of trying to help people out.

"I'm meeting a whole range of people from other countries, and at the same time helping people in remote areas of Chile."

The prince insisted the trip was his own choice. He said: "I just liked the idea. I think it's about 10 weeks. I'm not sure of the exact details. I'm doing an environmental project, a community project and, I think at the end, an adventure project."

Wills will learn skills to repair buildings and bridges. He will also join a project to map out the area and track a rare species of deer.

Asked in series of pre-planned questions if Charles had chipped in to help pay for the expedition, William replied: "He might have helped slightly. Not very much though."

His remark prompted laughing Charles to quip: "I chip in all the bloody time."

The actual trip costs pounds 3,500. Wills's leftover money, plus pounds 5,500 pledged by Charles, will help pay for another needy youngster to go along.

William said: "He's from a youth development programme. I think he's from Newcastle. I don't know him. I'll meet him when I'm out there."

The next question caught William by surprise. Will he miss his dad and brother while he is away? Laughing, he said: "Probably quite a bit."

The rapport between father and son showed as Charles turned to his son, and joked: "Careful what you say."

William went on: "I'll miss them a lot. But it's only 10 weeks, and once I'm out there I'll be quite committed. I'm going to make the most of what I'm doing there and just get on with what I've got to do.

"I can probably use a computer out there to e-mail my father from time to time when I come back in from being out and about in the mountains."

William will be joined on the trip by former equerry Mark Dyer, 34, an ex-captain in the Welsh Guards.

After Chile, the prince said he had not made up his mind where to go. He said: "I'm hugely disorganized."

Questioned about how he has coped in the media spotlight, William showed a refreshing maturity.

Newspapers agreed to leave the prince alone during his time at Eton.

And yesterday, he said: "They've been very good. Thanks to everyone it really has been brilliant.

"You've all left me alone from the beginning. I hope this continues for Harry as well while he's there."

Describing his recent trip to the island Rodrigues, 500kms south east of Mauritius, he said: "Basically, I was on a Royal Geographical Society programme doing marine conservation, going out with locals and learning how to fish. It was good fun."

He told how he learned of his three A-level passes - an A grade in Geography, a B in History of Art and a C in Biology - while in the jungles of Belize with the Welsh Guards.

He said: "I was in the middle of nowhere. The only way to get the results to me was over the army net. I was glad with what I got."

The prince was surrounded by 11 reporters and a handful of TV crew. But he barely faltered.

Afterwards, he told an aide he was pleased at how the interview went, and said: "Can you say thank-you? They were great."

Earlier, the media were warned: "He's quite happy to do this. He's very relaxed and happy at the moment.

"He's only 18. If it's kept calm and relaxed, then he will be too. If everyone starts jumping up and down then he'll probably leave."