Prince William Turns 25
Earlier this week, Prince William attended the annual Trooping of the Colour for his grandmother the queen's birthday.
It was an impressive way to begin a big week for William. He turns 25 on June 21 and now the choices he makes are beginning to have more consequences.
One of the choices he's already made was to break up with Kate Middleton, the girlfriend he'd had since college.
"It's been quite an epic year for him, he's seen the end of a very significant relationship, a relationship that everyone thought would end in a marriage so that's been a big blow to him," gossip columnist for the British paper The Mail on Sunday Katie Nicholl told CBS news correspondent Mark Phillips.
Nicholl said that she thinks that the decision to end the relationship was probably mutual, but has still been hard on the prince.
"This will be the first birthday in four-and-a-half years that he's spent without Kate," she said.Photos: A Prince And An Officer
Indeed, one of the world's most eligible bachelors is about to get more eligible. At 25 his share of the inheritance his mother left behind — about $40 million — starts kicking in. William didn't join the army because he needed the money.
"The story about prince William going shopping for 850 pounds of booze so that he can go and watch a football match 'with my mates the soldiers' — he's not anybody's mate, he's never going to be anybody's mate," royal writer Victoria Mather said. "Don't pretend you're going to be everybody's mate, it ain't going to happen. Get real. I think we're actually looking at somebody who is a nice young man, rather immature, who wants to be normal, but get with the program — you're never going to be normal."
Someday, William is going to be king. But there are likely decades to fill before that happens. Soon, he finishes his military training and the big question for him now is, what next?
"He ought to do a proper job, but its very difficult. What do you do, put him into a bank?" Mather said. "'Hello, it's William Windsor here, I'd like to sell you some shares.' "
William doesn't have to start a career — he has one waiting. So for a man-about-town famous for night-clubbing until the early hours, the more immediate question may be how to celebrate this milestone.
"I'm hearing that it will be a low key affair," Nicholl said. "He will be driving tanks at his camp in Dorset and it'll be a pretty normal day for him. His fellow officers will probably throw an impromptu bash for him, but I'll be watching the club Friday or Saturday, my money will be on his being there."