Free Prince William by Penny Junor

It was the perfect environment for noisy, energetic and inquisitive small boys – plenty of space to roar around and lots of places to explore.
    They had their father’s Jack Russells, Tigga and Roo, to play with, there were ponies to ride, ducks on the pond, cows and sheep in the fields and chickens running about in the yard. There were woods and hay lofts and, when it was warm enough, a heated outdoor swimming pool. They had a climbing frame on the lawn and a swing, and they could grow their own vegetables from the little patch of garden their father had set aside for them.
    Charles has often said that if he hadn’t been a Prince he would be a farmer. His passion for the countryside and its conservation is legendary. He also firmly believes that it is only possible to lead by example – one of the many beliefs he has passed on to his sons, so when he first became interested in organic agriculture in 1982, he realised he had to do it himself. He would never be able to persuade farmers to give up chemicals unless he himself had tried it and proved it was viable. So when a farm with 710 acres near Tetbury came up for sale two years later, the Duchy bought it and employed David Wilson as manager. Gradually they converted the land to Soil Association standards and started not only experimenting in organic production, but using it as a showcase for all the Prince’s ideas about the countryside, conservation and the environment. Over the years it has become an impressive example of best-practice farming and a thriving business.
    But for William and Harry, as they were growing up, it was simply a good fun place with every sort of farm animal; and tractors, combine harvesters and exciting machinery. Whenever the Prince drove over there in a Land Rover, which he did at least once every weekend, the boys would want to go with him. David and his wife, Caroline, had sons of much the same age as William and Harry and the boys would muck about while their fathers talked shop, or they would go with Charles and inspect the animals and wander about the fields and hedgerows. There was great excitement if they spotted a buzzard circling, or a hare running across a field, or a fox. Charles was thrilled to watch their interest in the countryside developing. It was important to him that the boys should see nature at work and that they should understand and respect the natural order. He wanted them to see how food is produced, how animals are reared and to learn the value of good husbandry of both land and livestock.
    Teaching them manners was a struggle – as it is with most lively little boys – but William’s godfather, King Constantine, says that Charles always treated them like young adults. He didn’t force them to do anything but would explain and reason with them;and William, who was bright, exhausting and extremely wilful, would have stretched the patience of a saint at times.
    One bitterly cold winter’s day when he and his father went to the farm together, William, aged four, arrived without any gloves. He had refused point blank to wear them. He hadn’t been out of the car long before he began to grumble that his hands were cold. Eventually he started to cry. ‘I told you to bring some gloves,’ said Charles, ‘and you wouldn’t listen, so shut up.’
    Diana never joined them on those visits to the farm. Unless the weather was glorious and she could swim in the pool, she preferred to be in London and, as the years went by, she saw less and less of Highgrove. And the less she enjoyed it, the less she hid her antipathy. She cut a lonely figure walking around the grounds listening to music through earphones, or curled up on a sofa watching a film, reading magazines or telephoning her friends. Her friends were her lifeline, although they sometimes, inexplicably, went out of favour. And many were the times she would suddenly cut short the weekend, sweep up the children and take