Prince William is the monarchy’s new hope – the royal golden boy who will one day wear the crown.
For many, he is held in affection, remembered as the cherubic toddler who inherited the looks of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
Now a grown man and an RAF pilot, Prince William is about to embark on the next stage of his life - with Kate Middleton at his side.
Sensible, intelligent, caring but also said to be stubborn, he has known from a young age that his destiny means he must tread carefully.
“It’s a very important role and it’s one that I don’t take lightly,” he once said of his future royal duty.
Prince William relies on a circle of close, trusted friends and still regards the media with suspicion.
Over the years, while his younger brother Prince Harry scuffled with the paparazzi, dressed as a Nazi and dabbled with cannabis, Prince William stayed out of trouble.
The Prince did, however, face criticism when he used an RAF Chinook helicopter at taxpayers’ expense to fly to a stag do, and then landed another in a field at Kate’s family’s house near Bucklebury, Berkshire, while training.
But so far second-in-line to the throne Prince William has himself managed to avoid any major scandals.
As a child, he witnessed the bitter breakdown of his parents’ marriage and then, in 1997, the tragic death of his mother in a car crash as she was pursued by the paparazzi.
He was just 15 when he and 12-year-old Harry bravely held their composure as they walked behind their mother’s cortege at her funeral in front of vast crowds of weeping people.
The future King – Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales – was born at 9.03 p.m. on June 21, 1982, at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington in London, weighing 7lb 1 1/2oz.
Princess Diana fell pregnant with William just a few months after her fairytale wedding to the Prince of Wales.
Prince Charles wrote to a friend after his son was born: “He really does look surprisingly appetising and has sausage fingers just like mine.”
Prince William was christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Robert Runcie, on the Queen Mother’s 82nd birthday on August 4, 1982 in the Music Room at Buckingham Palace.
Charles and Diana broke with tradition by taking nine-month-old William with them on an official tour of Australia and New Zealand.
He grew into an inquisitive toddler and his parents nicknamed him “Wombat”, but he was boisterous and prone to tantrums.
He sometimes played up in public – notably at the Duke of York’s wedding, where he pulled faces at the bridesmaids. He was sent to Mrs Mynor’s Nursery School in west London aged three, then Wetherby School and Ludgrove School in Berkshire.
Reports showed he had a flair for spelling and was good at sports. In 1991, he was rushed to hospital suffering from a depressed fracture after being hit on the side of the head with a golf club by a friend at school. He still has a faint “Harry Potter” scar on his forehead to this day.
As a teenager, Prince William would, like his mother once did, hide under his floppy blond fringe when confronted by photographers.
The royal marriage crumbled amid scandal and intense press interest while Prince William was at Eton.
Then on August 31, 1997 came Diana’s devastating death.
Charles let his sons sleep through the night at Balmoral before breaking the sad news to them in the morning.
In the aftermath the papers agreed to leave William and Harry alone while they finished their education, meaning news on the boys during their teen years was limited.
At Eton, Prince William went on to gain 10 GCSEs in 1998, with three A* grades, five As and two Bs, and became one of 21 prefects.
After leaving school, he went on a gap year which included jungle training in Belize with the Welsh Guards and a stint with Raleigh International in Chile.
Prince William was shown tackling domestic chores – making him possibly the first future King to be pictured in rubber gloves scrubbing a toilet floor.
He began his four years at St Andrews University in Scotland in 2001, but stayed away from Freshers Week to avoid the spotlight and later found it difficult to adjust.
He switched from history of art to geography, got used to the isolated town and began dating flatmate Kate Middleton.
Prince William has often spoken of how he tries to live as “normal” a life as possible, relishing the privacy he found at St Andrews.
After leaving university, Prince William’s public appearances remained limited at first as he pursued his military career.
Protective of Kate, he was angered by the attention she received from photographers when they were dating, with aides saying he wanted more than anything for her to be left alone.
In September last year, he graduated as an RAF Search and Rescue Pilot and “Flight Lieutenant Wales” now co-pilots a Sea King Mk3 helicopter.
In November 2010 came the news that he was to wed long-term love Miss Middleton.
With the worldwide interest in the wedding, a solo tour to Australia and New Zealand in March and joint public appearances with his bride-to-be, Prince William has been propelled into the public spotlight more than ever before.