December 15, 2006
LONDON --Prince William was commissioned as an army officer on Friday, and shared the spotlight at the ceremony with his girlfriend, Kate Middleton.
LONDON --Prince William was commissioned as an army officer on Friday, and shared the spotlight at the ceremony with his girlfriend, Kate Middleton.
The two have been a couple since William's university days, and speculation about their future is a continuing subject of gossip.
With grandmother Queen Elizabeth II addressing the new second lieutenants and father Prince Charles taking the salute, William was one face in a crowd of cadets participating in "passing out" ceremonies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, following a 44-week commissioning course.
William's younger brother, Prince Harry, was commissioned at a similar ceremony earlier this year. Both of the young royals were assigned to the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry.
Middleton, wearing a bright scarlet coat and dark hat, attracted lingering gazes from the television cameras covering the ceremony.
"For those who are to be commissioned today and to those who will shortly follow, a great deal will be expected of you," the queen told cadets.
"You must be courageous yet selfless, leaders yet carers, confident yet considerate... These are very special attributes, but those whom you will command and your country too will expect nothing less. My prayer for your success and safety will follow you wherever you happen to serve."
With grandmother Queen Elizabeth II addressing the new second lieutenants and father Prince Charles taking the salute, William was one face in a crowd of cadets participating in "passing out" ceremonies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, following a 44-week commissioning course.
William's younger brother, Prince Harry, was commissioned at a similar ceremony earlier this year. Both of the young royals were assigned to the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry.
Middleton, wearing a bright scarlet coat and dark hat, attracted lingering gazes from the television cameras covering the ceremony.
"For those who are to be commissioned today and to those who will shortly follow, a great deal will be expected of you," the queen told cadets.
"You must be courageous yet selfless, leaders yet carers, confident yet considerate... These are very special attributes, but those whom you will command and your country too will expect nothing less. My prayer for your success and safety will follow you wherever you happen to serve."
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"I will be able to tell my grandchildren I hit the future Monarch round the head with a 2lb potato" - Junior Under Officer David Robertson
William graduates from Sandhurst
11.05, Fri Dec 15 2006
Prince William has graduated as an Army officer from Sandhurst in front of his grandmother, the Queen, and his girlfriend Kate Middleton.
Wearing a large-brimmed black hat, red knee-length coat and black boots, Miss Middleton, who was accompanied by her parents and William's private secretary, watched him receive his commission as an officer.
The Queen told William and the other soldiers that a great deal would be expected of them as she addressed the Sovereign's Parade.
She said: "I am speaking to every individual one of you when I say you are very special people. For those who are to be commissioned today and to those who will shortly follow, a great deal will be expected of you.
"You must be courageous yet selfless, leaders yet carers, confident yet considerate.
"And you must be all these things in some of the most challenging environments around the world so that men and women will willingly follow your lead into every possible situation with absolute trust in your judgment."
Junior Under Officer David Robertson, 29, from Inverness, earlier revealed how he managed to use a vegetable to target William during a riot training exercise.
He said: "I will be able to tell my grandchildren I hit the future Monarch round the head with a 2lb potato. He loved it like anyone else would and started swinging the baton - a baton you get hit with if you get too close."
And Junior Under Officer Angela Laycock, who is in William's Blenheim Platoon, described how the young Royal fitted in with the other cadets.
Miss Laycock, from Bedfordshire, said: "I've not really noticed anything different to be honest. The first loaded march we had a bit of a detour (to avoid) some photographers. He's just a normal guy that gets stuck in like everybody else."
The 24-year-old added: "The only difference is that sometimes we'll see his name in the paper and you didn't notice he'd been off that evening doing a charity do. I don't know how he manages to fit that in."
William, who is eager to draw a line under a decade of conspiracy theories about the death of his mother, took to the parade ground just a day after an official report was published about how Diana, Princess of Wales, died.
The investigation by former Metropolitan Police chief Lord Stevens ruled that Diana was not the victim of a murder plot when she and her lover were killed in a high-speed car crash in Paris in 1997.
William and his younger brother Harry - who was also a cadet at Sandhurst before passing out in April - said in a statement they "trust these conclusive findings will end speculation surrounding the death of their mother".
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