Prince William's Graduation Day

It's a big day in Britain as the royal family turns out in full force Thursday to celebrate Prince William's graduation from Saint Andrews University in Scotland. So what does the immediate future hold for the heir to Britain's throne? CBS News Correspondent Mark Phillips reports.

Normally, it's the graduate who's the center of attention. But things are different when your grandmother is the queen.

And normally, the proud parents are just part of the crowd, except when your father is the king-in-waiting and his new bride is the recently rehabilitated, and legitimized, Camilla.

But this is no normal family and Prince William is no normal graduate. He's William, Diana's photogenic son. The great royal hope. And he's another thing: cute.

"He's wow," says one girl, while others just nod, affirming her statement.

William is "wow" for a number of reasons, the major one being that he looks and acts like his mother, not his father. William has not only been bred for the job, he seems to have been sent by Central Casting.

Columnist Dominik Diamond notes, "I think he could be a classic modern king. He's young; he's glamorous; he's smart; he's wise; he's got a great knack, the knack his mother had, of saying the right things to the press at the right times when he's interviewed."

In an interview, the prince said, "I hope I don't come across as someone who's trying to be treated differently by the staff. They all treat me the same. The locals treat me the same. I don't like being treated any different at all. I don't like special treatment at all."

Diamond says, "William is everything we need for a king in this millennium."

But he'll have to wait. Boy, will he have to wait!

His grandmother, the current incumbent, is about to move into her 80s, but is showing no signs of slowing down, and comes from a line of women who seem to go on forever.

His father is now in his mid-50s. Given a normal lifespan, William could have several decades to kill before moving into the job for which he was born. What's he supposed to do in the meantime?

Diamond says, "It's difficult. It's hinted that he may go into the same charity work that Diana did. He spoke a year ago about going into the armed forces, but I think the armed forces are the kind of thing the royals do if they're not very good at anything else."

And William has shown he is good (very good) at some essential things. It was he who took charge of that unfortunate photo shoot on the family's recent ski trip, telling his father to stop muttering about the hateful press and to smile.Royal watcher Ingrid Seward of Majesty Magazine notes, "William's his own person, but we don't know enough about him yet. We know a certain amount about him; we see his mother in him, and he has that star quality. Only time will reveal what his true feelings are."

The country's true feelings have been known for some time.

Diamond says, "Charles has never been terribly popular with the people, because he speaks to trees, and he did the dirty on Diana, which we didn't like, so he would be a disastrous king."

But king, he will likely be, meaning that the "great hope" (William) will have to confront the real enemy: time.

Time for his every relationship to be examined by the prying press. He already has prickled at the attention given to his current girlfriend, Kate Middleton.

And time for age to take its toll. The papers are already talking about the way his hair appears to be thinning. William, truth be told, may be moving beyond his "cover boy" period.

After asking the same girls again, after pointing that out, one says, "He's really not that cute."

Another interrupts, "His brother's better. There are loads and loads of really rich guys that are better looking than that."

So pity poor William. Already his rebellious younger brother is surpassing him on the celebrity magazine hotness scale.

For William, now a graduate, his biggest immediate challenge lies ahead, the same challenge faced by so many men as they age: How to cope with no longer being the coolest thing around.

Prince William received a 2:1 grade for his four-year master of arts degree in geography. Brother Harry did not attend the graduation. He's currently enrolled in officer training at an elite military academy.