"It's a very important role and it's one that I don't take lightly. It's all about helping people and dedication and loyalty which... I know I have." --on his role as king."

"I just want to come across as me."

When talking about girls whom he likes who like him, he added, "which is rare".

"I imagine my father would go absolutely bananas if he saw me driving, blaring music out of the windows."

"So you might as well live if you're going to live."

"I don't go off and say 'Oh no no, I'm not listening to you'."

"My guiding principles in life are to be honest, genuine, thoughtful and caring."

"I have reservations about everything."

"I look on the brighter side of everything. There's no point being pessimistic or being worried about too many things because frankly life's too short."

"I do think I am a country boy at heart. I love the buzz of towns and going out with friends and sitting with them drinking and whatever – it’s fun – but, at the same time, I like space and freedom." -- June 2003

"I love my water polo."

"I like traditional art. I love the Renaissance."

"Are you trying to get me (drunk)?" -- to his father, who giving him alcohol samples on his 21st-birthday visit to Wales

"Harry can paint but I can’t. He has our father’s talent while I, on the other hand, am about the biggest idiot on a piece of canvas." -- June 2003

"I loved my gap year and wish I could have another one. But the best bit was in England." (In England, he worked as a farm labourer)

"I want to go there (St Andrews) and be an ordinary student. I mean, I'm only going to university. It's not like I'm getting married...."

"Someone can hold a view about something without it making a difference to who they are. Everyone has opinions and they are entitled to them." (This was directly in response to a question about encountering anti-monarchists at university. He added in a later interview, "I don’t deliberately select my friends because of their background.")

A b o u t . h i m . . .

"All I can say is, it makes me feel unbelivably old to know that I have a twenty-one year old son... of whom I must say, I am inordinately proud."

"For someone, who when he was younger, was thought to dislike media attention, at 21 William is determined to act like an adult. -- on the official site www.princeofwales.gov.uk

"I hope for the best for Wills, but I would be very surprised if he turns out to be normal, because that's the maddest family since the Munsters. Every day there's something new. We wouldn't be shocked if he turned out to be a cross-dresser who wanted to marry a corgi. We all feel we know everything about them, and that's a very bad thing for a ruling family." -- commentator Julie Burchill in 1996.

"He comes across quite sympathetically, as thoughtful and sensitive with an artistic flair." - Peter Archer in 1998.

"William's shoes are always so shiny, his trousers well-pressed. He looks different from the others." -- Eton bookshop owner in 1998.

"William lives in his father's world now." -- friend of Diana's.

"[Diana] always used to say she wanted William to be happy, and it's quite clear she wanted him to be king." -- Peter Archer 1998.