Princess Diana Warned Prince William About Photographers Following Him "For the Rest of His Life" on His First Day of School

5-year-old William rebelled a bit.

Prince Williams First day at Wetherby School, in London
(Image credit: Getty/Julian Parker)

Princess Diana was a very loving mother, and she wanted her sons to be as equipped as they could be to deal with life not only as boys and later men, but also as members of the Royal Family.

On Prince William's first day of school at Wetherby in London, it obviously wasn't just like a regular kid's first day of school: There were of course photographers following the event, something which the princess wanted to make sure her eldest was prepared for.

"Diana said to him in the car, 'When you get to school there are going to be lots of media and lots of photographers, you've got to behave yourself," Ken Wharfe, a former bodyguard for William and Harry revealed to Yahoo's Royal Box (via the Mirror).

"You're going to get this for the rest of your life," she warned.

But 5-year-old Prince William wasn't about to take this news lying down: When he and his mom got out of the car, he let said photographers have a piece of his mind. "William turned around and said something which was extraordinary," Wharfe added. "He said, 'Don't like 'tographers.'"

In the end, though, he did "behave himself" and gave the cameras a wave and a sweet smile.

Being followed around by photographers has long been a huge point of contention for the Royal Family—and for nobody more than Princess Diana, who died in a car crash while driving away from paparazzi.

The now-Duke of Cambridge himself apparently once told his mother that she should leave the U.K. to get away from the cameras constantly following her around. In the end, though, it was her youngest son, Prince Harry, and his wife Meghan Markle who traded in royal life for sunny California in an attempt to protect their privacy.

meghan markle prince harry

(Image credit: Getty Images)
Iris Goldsztajn
Morning Editor

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.