Prince William, Duke of Cambridge

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge KG KT (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982), is the elder son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, and third eldest grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He is second in the line of succession, behind his father, to the thrones of sixteen independent sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Prince William was educated at four schools in the United Kingdom and obtained a degree from the University of St Andrews. He spent parts of a gap year in Chile, Belize, and countries in Africa, most notably Kenya where he has lived and holidayed several times. Prince William has also taken Kiswahili studies at universities in Kenya and Tanzania. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Blues and Royals Regiment of the Household Cavalry—serving with his brother Prince Harry—and, two years later, earned his wings by completing pilot training at Royal Air Force College Cranwell. In 2009, he transferred to the Royal Air Force, was promoted to Flight Lieutenant and underwent helicopter flying training in order to become a full-time pilot with the Search and Rescue Force. In 2010, he completed his general and special-to-type helicopter training and went on to RAF Valley on No. 22 Squadron performing co-pilot duties on board a Sea King search and rescue helicopter. Prince William married his longtime girlfriend, Catherine Middleton, on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey. Hours prior to his wedding, Prince William was created Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus.