His parents divorced in 1996, and the following year he showed great strength in coping with the devastating news of his mother's death in a car crash in Paris. With immense courage he insisted on walking behind Princess Diana's hearse in the funeral procession. A year later, William issued a joint statement with his younger brother, Prince Harry, asking both press and public to let the two of them get on with their lives in peace. It was a tactic which proved largely successful, and the Prince voiced his appreciation at the tenth anniversary of the Press Complaints Commission in February 2001, his first official engagement.

After graduating from Eton with 12 GCSEs and three A-levels, William decided to study art history at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Adopting a modern approach to the monarchy, he asked to be enrolled simply as "William Wales". Before embarking upon his studies in the autumn of 2001, William opted to take a gap year in order to travel. This included a ten-week stint doing community work in Chile, and 15 weeks studying conservation in Africa. Meanwhile, student applications skyrocketed at St Andrews, with British applications rising by 44 per cent and the number of overseas applicants doubling.