Prince William's Graduation Day

A Look At The Royal Event And What The Future Holds For The Prince

(CBS)  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.