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CNN Live Today

Prince William Turns 20

Aired June 21, 2002 - 13:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: One of the royals now is celebrating a birthday today, young Prince William. He's 20 years old.

CNN's Diana Muriel has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One of the world's most talked-about teenagers turns 20 today. Prince William of England will be spending the day quietly at home on his father's country estate at Highgrove, with no public appearances planned.

But in this golden-jubilee year, marking 50 years of his grandmother's reign, the public has seen more of this popular prince than ever before. Not all occasions have been happy ones. Walking with his brother, Prince Harry, in the funeral procession of his great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother, in April, his dignity and composure were severely tested.

It was an echo of a similar walk behind the coffin of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, five years before. Then, the popularity of the queen and the royal family was at a low ebb. But times have changed.

HAROLD BROOKS-BAKER, DIRECTOR, BURKE'S PEERAGE: His friends claim that he was surprised and very pleased to see the monarchy go from reasonably popular before the death of the queen mother to overwhelmingly popular today. The monarchy has not been this popular in the lifetime of Prince William.

MURIEL: William, or Wills, as he is known to his family, has had to come to terms with the demands of public life, overcoming his shyness at the attention he receives wherever he goes, especially from young women. He has relaxed into the role.

He also appears to have to come to terms with his father's relationship with long-term companion Camilla Parker Bowles -- described as down-to-earth and willing to get his hands dirty, as he proved in his gap year between school and university, a people person like his mother, whose good looks he has inherited. But he also has much from his father.

BROOKS-BAKER: Like his father, he is very much of a renaissance prince, interested in everything and everyone, good at languages, good at understanding people, very self-effacing, very thoughtful. And I know that, when he was at Eton, he had received the greatest compliments possible from his fellow classmates, who expected him to be somewhat stuck-up, somewhat difficult -- but not at all. He was one of the boys in the nicest possible ways.

MURIEL (on camera): But Prince William will never be just one of the boys. As a future king of England, his life will increasingly come under the influence of the royal household, headquartered here at Buckingham Palace. Press and public attention will only intensify, as will speculation about every aspect of his life. This final year before Prince William's coming of age may be his last one of real freedom.

Diana Muriel, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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