Watch Prince William's Press Conference Announcing His College Plans
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In episode seven of The Crown's sixth and final season, Prince William holds a press conference at his father Prince Charles's Highgrove House. Wearing a beige sweatshirt and jeans, William spoke causally to reporters, detailing his plans to take a gap year in Chile, and then attend St. Andrews.
In real life, this press conference did, in fact, take place, and it looked very similar to how it was recreated in The Crown. On September 29, 2000, Prince William spoke to reporters with his father, Prince Charles, by his side. It was the first press conference Prince William ever held, and his first-ever public interview.
You can watch snippets of it here:
"I wanted to do something constructive," the 18-year-old prince told reporters about his gap year. "I mean I could do other work but I thought this was the way to try to help people out and meet a whole range of different people from different countries."
What The Crown doesn't show is that during this press conference, Prince William spoke briefly about his mother Princess Diana, talking about a book by her former private secretary, Patrick Jephson. "Harry and I are both quite upset about it," he said, "that our mother's trust has been betrayed and even now she is still being exploited."
The book, Shadows of a Princess: An Intimate Account by Her Private Secretary, was published in October 2000. When the publication was announced, Prince Charles issued a rare public statement, saying, "Her Majesty and His Royal Highness do not want a book of this kind to be published, a view which was conveyed firmly to Mr Jephson in February, 1998."
The statement continued, "There is an important relationship of trust and privacy between members of the Royal Family and those who work for them, at whatever level, which is enshrined in the permanent confidentiality undertaking which all employees sign on joining the Royal Household. The Queen and the Prince of Wales deeply deplore Mr Jephson's decision to proceed with the publication of his book."
It added, "Whatever its possible content, the book is likely to arouse fresh speculation about the life of the Princess which can only be upsetting to the feelings of Prince William and Prince Harry, and to the Princess's family. "
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