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Prince William to become a full-time student on agriculture course Prince William to study agriculture at Cambridge University
(about 2 hours later)
The Duke of Cambridge is to become a full-time student studying agricultural management for 10 weeks, Kensington Palace has said. Maev Kennedy
Prince William will learn about the issues facing the UK's rural communities and the farming industry during the course, based at Cambridge University, which begins next week. Clearly worried that a 2:1 masters in geography, a three year career as a helicopter pilot, and a great deal of gap year foreign travel, might not quite equip him for running the 53,000 hectares of land spread across 23 counties which make up the Duchy of Cornwall, Prince William is going back to college.
His studies will give him a good grounding for his future role running the Duchy of Cornwall, a portfolio of land, property and investments he will inherit from his father, the Prince of Wales, when Charles becomes king. Almost three centuries after his ancestor George III was nicknamed "Farmer George" and mocked for his interest in agricultural improvement and his herd of pedigree sheep, William, second in line to the throne and the next heir to the Duchy, will be heading for Cambridge university next week to become a full time student of agricultural management.
Speaking about the course, a Kensington Palace spokesman said the duke was "very much looking forward to it". Although he will have up to 20 hours of lectures, seminars and tutorials a week, on top of essays and field trips, it will be a long way from the years he spent at St Andrews becoming the best educated royal in generations. The course will only last 10 weeks, specially designed for him at the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership, where his father is patron.
William's studies are a bespoke course run by the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL), an institution within Cambridge University's School of Technology, which has the Prince of Wales as its patron. Nor will he be burdened with a student loan: a spokesman at Kensington Palace said the cost of the course would be met privately.
The Kensington Palace spokesman said: "The executive education programme of seminars, lectures and meetings will draw on the strengths of academics across the university. It will start in early January and run until mid-March. The spokesman said the Prince was greatly looking forward to it - presumably not just because, as he recently admitted, he wished his five month old son slept better at night and filled fewer nappies, though he is expected to live in Cambridge during the week.
"The course has been designed to help provide the duke with an understanding of contemporary issues affecting agricultural business and rural communities in the United Kingdom." The course, which does not lead to a formal qualification, is specifically designed to help him with running the Duchy of Cornwall, but will also take in wider agricultural issues.
The duke will have 18 to 20 hours of lectures, seminars and meetings a week and is likely to have essays to complete and to make field trips. "The executive education programme of seminars, lectures and meetings will draw on the strengths of academics across the university. It will start in early January and run until mid-March" the spokesman said. "The course has been designed to help provide the Duke with an understanding of contemporary issues affecting agricultural business and rural communities in the United Kingdom."
He is expected to live in Cambridge part of the time during his studies as he will have accommodation within the city, but will still carry out a number of royal engagements over the coming months. William will still carry out a number of royal engagements over the coming months, as the younger royals gradually take over some of the workload of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.
The costs for the course will be met privately. The Prince, whose mother Diana famously described herself as "thick as a plank" and left school at 16 after failing her O levels, studied at St Andrews - where he met his future wife Kate Middleton - from 2001 - 2005, eventually leaving with a 2:1 masters in geography. His father was the first heir to the throne to obtain a university degree, but only managed a 2:2 from Cambridge.
The programme does not lead to a formal qualification but is thought to feature continual assessment. After St Andrews he did 44 weeks of military training at Camberley in Sussex, and was commissioned as an army officer in 2006. He received his RAF wings in 2008, but left the service and his home on Anglesey in September, after completing his tour as Flight Lieutenant Wales, a search and rescue helicopter pilot. He is described by the palace as having "a transitional year" before deciding his next public service role.
William gave up operational duties with the Royal Air Force in September after completing a three-year tour as a search and rescue helicopter pilot.
The second in line to the throne is in a transitional period and is considering options for his public service.
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