William At 21 (five): SOME day my prince will come - and, if you're really lucky, he'll come two days running.

You wait 21 years for a TV documentary about Prince William and, just like buses, two come along at the same time.

Those crafty folk at five sneaked their programme out first, leaving ITV1's Prince William At 21 to follow tonight.

I can't imagine there'll be much difference between the two. There are only so many film clips, most stage managed by the royal press office, to show, and so many friends and acquaintances to talk about him. Don't expect to see his father or grandparents speaking about him.

What I realised, after viewing these innocuous photo and chat opportunities from the past 21 years, is how little material there is about the man who might be king. The Palace has done remarkably well at shielding him from the public glare.

The media has, by and large, obeyed the rules and given the student prince his space. How amusing that when the code was broken, it was his uncle Prince Edward's production company camera crew that was spotted filming William on his arrival to study at St Andrews University.

Meanwhile, younger brother Harry diverted attention away with his drink and drug misdemeanours, while William went abroad to work with a charity during his gap year.

So what did we learn from William At 21? Not a lot. So far, he's only been a supporting player in the royal soap. It was no great revelation to be told that he had problems coming to terms with his destiny. Some youngsters might be glad to have their life, not to mention their job prospects and finances, sorted out well in advance.

William has clung to his privacy, which becomes progressively harder as he gets older. So far it's worked by a trade off with media - royal managers give them a few stories about him in exchange for a degree of privacy.

It could be 30 or 40 years before we see King William and you can understand him not wanting to hang around waiting, but get out and do something with his life.

With his movie star looks, the prince could go into movies, if only he didn't like everyone looking at him. He "had a wobble" after his first term at university because he felt vulnerable with everyone staring at him. What else did he expect?

We learnt that his mother called him Wombat, his father called him Wills. An Eton school friend told us he played a lot of sports and received mail from all over the world. Working in Chile, he indulged in "tent-hopping" and "dirty dancing". He's a joker who does Ali G impressions (eat your heart out, Richard Madeley). He was a bit of a mummy's boy.

Most was opinion rather than hard facts. One thing we do know is that at 18, he asked not to be called His Royal Highness, as he was entitled to be. The Queen agreed for the title to be deferred.

The rest is speculation. But as Andrew Neil, Dean of St Andews, said: "If you have to have an heir to the throne, he would not be a bad heir to the throne."

EMMA SAMS

From the Colbys to Holby

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Published: 11/06/2003