William to follow brother Harry into Sandhurst

[Batgirl]

Prince William will soon have to salute his younger brother, Harry, after passing the rigorous tests for entry into Sandhurst, the elite military academy.

The 23-year-old, second-in-line to the throne and future Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, will join his brother at the prestigious officer training college in January, the most senior royal in recent history to become a Sandhurst cadet.

Clarence House said that William received news this morning that he had passed the Regular Commissions Board (RCB) selection process, after taking the test with around 20 other candidates over the past four days.

"I am absolutely delighted to have got over the first hurdle, but I am only too well aware, having spoken so much to Harry, that this is just the beginning," William said. "I am really looking forward to taking my place alongside all the other cadets at Sandhurst."

William, who is maintaining a lengthy tradition of military service within the Royal Family, has previously insisted he wants to fight for his country, as has Prince Harry.

In an interview last year, William said: "The last thing I want to do is be mollycoddled or wrapped up in cotton wool because if I was to join the Army I’d want to go where my men went and I’d want to do what they did. I would not want to be kept back for being precious, or whatever, that’s the last thing I’d want."

William's choice of the Army differs from the majority of his relatives. His father, the Prince of Wales, trained to be a pilot with the RAF, getting his wings in 1971, and also signed up to the Royal Navy; William’s grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, began his naval career in 1939; and his uncle, the Duke of York, was in the Navy for 22 years.

William is expected to start the commissioning course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in January after his month of City work experience at HSBC bank in November.

This would mean the brothers will overlap for three months with Harry due to finish in April - after which Officer Cadet Wales will have to salute his younger brother.

But it will not be long before William overtakes Harry in rank. As a university graduate, he starts higher up the military ladder when he finishes the 44-week training.

The brothers will be based in different parts of the college - William with new recruits in Old College and Harry in New College, where officer cadets are taught in the second and third term.

William was congratulated by both Harry and Prince Charles. A Clarence House spokesman said: "They’re absolutely thrilled for him. His father’s very proud."

The prince will endure a tough breaking-in period designed to change him from a civilian into a soldier, a world away from the lie-ins he admitted enjoying at St Andrews University. The lack of leave will also test the Prince’s relationship with his girlfriend, Kate Middleton, with whom he shared a flat as a student.

In the first five weeks of the 44-week course, new recruits are totally immersed into Army life: they rise at dawn, finish late, are not allowed off-site and have very little free time. Harry suffered painful blisters caused by his sturdy black Army boots during one hard-going expedition.

William underwent an assault course, physical tests, a planning exercise and interviews in his RCB test, for which the average pass rate is around 60 per cent. The academy accepts 800 recruits a year, mostly graduates.

Among those who have attended Sandhurst - the world’s oldest army training centre - are Dodi Fayed and James Hewitt, former lovers of William's mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Prince Michael of Kent, the late King Hussein of Jordan, the Sultan of Brunei, Sir Winston Churchill and fascist Sir Oswald Mosley were also Sandhurst cadets.

Times Online

[USMC Chuter]

For those who may not know, Natasha is also a cadet at Sandhurst. It's obviously a very prestigious academy, and attendance there is admirable! Let's see if she can get some royalty to join the board now.

[Batgirl]

^ lol, I'd be pushing my luck there as I've had to twist the arms of the trainees I know to sign up here and on Brad's new board!