Prince William has revealed that he is relaxed about having friends who are republicans and claimed that working on a Cornish farm for the minimum wage was the most satisfying part of his gap year.
His admissions come ahead of his arrival today at St Andrews University to begin an undergraduate course in art history. In contrast to the staged arrival of his father, Prince Charles, at Cambridge 30 years ago, the 19-year-old gave a solitary interview yesterday, which will be followed by a media clampdown intended to protect the privacy of the young royal.
'I loved my gap year and wish I could have another one,' he said, 'but the best bit was in England.
'I loved working on a farm, before foot and mouth, which is partly why I've got so much sympathy for the farmers who have suffered so much. I got my hands dirty, did all the chores and had to get up at 4am. I enjoyed the fact that I was put in as a hand and was just another guy on the farm.'
The prince, who worked as a farmhand for a month in between an Operation Raleigh trip to Chile and a three-month visit to Africa, was paid £3.20 an hour. The money will have been paid into his account at royal bank Coutts, where he has a gold cashpoint card.
William missed last week's Freshers Week at St Andrews. He said he did not want to disrupt the lives of ordinary students. 'Plus I thought I would probably end up in a gutter completely wrecked, and the people I had met that week wouldn't end up being my friends anyway. It also meant another week's holiday.'
As a gesture of co-operation with the Scottish media, he spent last Friday carrying out public engagements north of the border. His schedule included a visit to the US consulate in Edinburgh, where he signed a book of condolence for the victims of terrorist attacks 'Love from William'. He explained: 'It was such a serious loss of life. I just watched the news and sat there in stunned silence for ages.'
For his first year as a history of art student, William will live in halls of residence at St Andrews. He will have a bedroom with basin, bedside table, two lamps, a bulletin board and, if he is lucky, a bookcase. He will pay just over £2,000 a year in rent.
And, despite his new university's reputation as a haunt for privileged undergraduates, William insists that he expects to acquire a wide range of friends. 'It's not as if I choose my friends on the basis of where they are from or what they are. It's about their character and whether we get on. I just hope I can meet people I get on with. I don't care about their backgrounds.'
Asked how he might get on with anti-monarchists, he said: 'Someone can hold a view about something without it making a difference to who they are. Everyone has opinions and they are entitled to them. I still get on with them, even if I don't agree with what they believe.'
Dana Green, president of the university Students Association, insisted: 'St Andrews really does have a broad cross section of society. The group of Hooray Henrys are a small, if vocal, contingent.'
But they were certainly vocal last week. In bars across the town from Ma Bells, known as 'Ya Ya Bells' because of the sort of client it attracts, to Cidson's, which serves champagne to better-off undergraduates, students were exuberant.
They now look forward to the 'raisin weekend' in six week's time. Freshers will be adopted by older students who become their 'parents'. The 'parents' then dress their 'children' in fancy dress and send them to St Salvators Quadrangle - part of the complex where William will live - to indulge in a mass foam fight.
However, special events for other students last week also included a seminar from Guy Black, director of the Press Complaints Commission, on 'media attention' and a lecture from university principal Dr Brian Lang. Undergraduates were warned to respect each other's privacy. Black and Lang are adamant that their concerns are relevant to all undergraduates. But the reason for their warnings was clear.
Both Prince Charles and officials at St James Palace believe that intense media interest in Prince William is understandable, but unfair. 'William will not be king for decades to come,' said one courtier. 'He is not participating in public life and he has his own life to lead.'
The prince has declined to be styled 'His Royal Highness' and says he wishes to be known as William Wales. Stephen Lamport, the private secretary to the Prince of Wales, said: 'We all appreciate that William's position creates a legitimate interest in his life, but we need to balance that with his legitimate right to some privacy. We will take a strong line on unchecked inaccurate stories.'
Consequently, tabloid newspapers in particular have been asked to leave the young prince in peace. They have restrained themselves since he left Eton last year, but there are fears that one story - about a claimed girlfriend or indiscretion - might lead to the floodgates opening as other newspapers hurry to catch up.
A string of claimed liaisons with young society beauties - including Davina Duckworth-Chad, Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe and Emma Parker Bowles, Camilla Parker Bowles's niece - have already been denied, but there is little doubt that details of an actual relationship with a young man believed to be a future king will emerge at some point. Then media restraint will be sorely tested.
In the meantime, the royal family has already discussed privately what career options might be open to William when he graduates in four years' time. History of art graduates often work subsequently in auction houses. However, courtiers have advised that this avenue could be too close to the commercial activity which has recently caused such embarrassment to the Earl and Countess of Wessex.
One friend of the royal family said: 'If he were to end up working for a homelessness or Aids charity such as Centrepoint or the Terrence Higgins Trust, he would be demonstrating exactly the commitment to people that made his mother special.' Those closest to William believe he is more likely to join the armed services, like his father, or pursue his own particular interest in environmentalism.
But consideration for his future may be far from William's mind at the moment. In spite of keenness to insist that he is not a party animal, he let slip yesterday that he occasionally sleeps until two in the afternoon.
ben.summerskill@observer.co.uk