The Prince and Princess of Wales had markedly different gap years, with Prince William spending his cleaning toilets and sleeping in hammocks, while Kate Middleton studied in Florence. The future couple were weeks away from meeting as they both joined the same challenge programme, Raleigh International.
William's Chile expedition
Prince William, then 18, travelled to Chile, where he spent three months working on community projects with Raleigh International. He helped build and decorate houses and playgrounds, painted, chopped wood, and worked on a dairy farm. Malcolm Sutherland, who ran both expeditions, called the coincidence of William and Kate joining the same programme “absolutely crazy.”
In royal biographer Katie Nicholl's book 'Kate: The Future Queen', Mr Sutherland said: "William coped very well, and what struck me about him was how normal he was. He said he wanted to be treated like everyone else, and he was. When you saw him cleaning the toilets, it wasn't for the cameras, he really did clean the lavatories."
Kate's gap year
The Princess of Wales followed a very similar programme but spent the second part of her gap year studying at the British Institute in Florence and crewing on Round the World Challenge boats in the Solent.
Prince William's next stop was less glamorous, as he spent time in the jungles of Belize with the Welsh Guards. Ms Nicholl wrote in her book 'William and Harry' that the prince was placed in a "tough environment."
Survival training in Belize
She explained how "he was taught how to kill and prepare his food. An exercise code-named Native Trail began with instructors slaughtering a pig, hanging it from a pole and butchering it." She added: "The soldiers, William included, were then given a live chicken to dispatch. They had to wring its neck and cut off its head and feet with a machete, pluck its feathers and gut it before cooking it over a fire, exactly as they would have to do if they were living off the land in a jungle war. They were shown how to make a termite stew – and then made to eat it."
Sleeping was also a challenge. Ms Nicholl wrote: "At night, William tried to snatch what little sleep he could in the rain in a hammock strung between two trees." In addition to Belize and Chile, William reportedly explored Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, and the Indian Ocean island of Rodrigues during his gap year.
