Prince William would want to fight on the front line if he were in the British army, but he is not sure whether he will sign up after graduating from a university, he told British media.
William, who is in his final year of geography studies at Scotland’s St. Andrews University, said he was not sure what he would do when he finished studying, but he had considered joining the military.
The eldest son of Prince Charles said he might follow in the footsteps of his younger brother Harry, who will enroll at Sandhurst military academy next year.
The prince said being second in line to the throne would present problems if his unit were sent into action, but he would not want to be held back.
“The last thing I want to do is be mollycoddled or wrapped up in cotton wool because if I was to join the army I’d want to go where my men went and I’d want to do what they did,” William said in an interview with Britain’s Press Association and the British Broadcasting Corp. that was published and televised Friday.
“I would not want to be kept back for being precious, or whatever. That’s the last thing I’d want.”
The prince, who is off limits to the British press when on campus at St. Andrews, described how he was reveling in leading a normal life out of the public eye.
‘I value ... simple things’
“I’ve spent 22 years being in the spotlight. You don’t really know much different, but I value the normality I can get, doing simple things, doing normal things,” he said.
He spoke of drinking vodka shots at 9:30 a.m. as part of a university antic and being stopped in a street by a lady who, apparently not recognizing him, asked if he knew a good place to buy underwear.
Despite a recent public appearance attending a Remembrance Sunday service with his father, William said he would not rush into public duties.
“It’s not that I never want to do it, it’s just that I’m reluctant at such a young age, I think anyway, to throw myself into the deep end,” he said.
But he said he did plan to work with AIDS charities in Africa — a cause closely associated with his late mother, Princess Diana.