When William and Kate were students, social media was not a factor, so while they were mindful of press intrusion, they didn’t have to contend with smartphones recording any slip-ups.
St. Andrews has always prioritized the privacy of its students. William’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Brian Lang, spoke about how he managed the future King during his time at the university.
He told said: “One thing that I did as soon as we knew William was going to be a student was to warn the student body that we expected them to respect the privacy of information.
“So, I made it quite clear to the students by doing an interview with the student newspaper, in which I emphasized that we would take a very, very dim view of any inappropriate information being passed on—not just about William, but about any other student.”
He added: “Andrew Neil, the Lord Rector of the university, being a very experienced newspaper man, helped us negotiate a deal with the British press, whereby they would leave William alone in return for a photo opportunity once a semester. And on the whole, that worked.”
As for the famous allegation that a student was once offered £3,000 to dish the details on the future King, Dr. Lang said: “[It was] not by UK newspapers, but by overseas newspapers. Now, that’s a lot for an undergraduate,” the Principal said. “The story also is that none of these offers were accepted. I don’t know whether that’s true, but it shows the excellent behaviour of the students during that period.”
