Prince William is set for a less than warm welcome from his fellow students when he starts a special course at Cambridge University next week, with some resenting his "free pass" to the prestigious institution.
The students believe the 31-year-old Prince has been given preferential treatment for entry into the elite academic institution for an agriculture course despite mediocre grades.
In its report on the Duke of Cambridge's admission to a 10-week agricultural management course, the university student newspaper The Tab wrote: "Normally students need A*AA at A-level to gain entry to Cambridge University, whilst the Prince only achieved a mediocre ABC.
"Conveniently though for Will, he is the registered benefactor of the department he will be studying at."
William will be studying a bespoke course run by the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership, an institution within the University's School of Technology, which has his father, Prince Charles, as its patron.
Cambridge graduate Melissa Berrill wrote in The Tab: "It's an insult to every student whose A-levels and degree are the same or better than his, and who didn't get a free pass to Cambridge in spite of them."
Prince William, who had quit his military career last year, plans to spend 18 to 20 hours per week in lectures, seminars and meetings to beef up his knowledge of rural affairs before taking on a heavier royal workload.
The course costs more than 10,000 pounds and is to be privately funded.
The second in line to the British throne is in preparation for his future role as owner of the Duchy of Cornwall, which will pass to him from his father when the Prince of Wales becomes king.
However, not all Cambridge students are against Prince William's arrival.
One fourth-year student described his enrolment as "the most exciting news ever", while Charlotte Ivers, a first-year philosophy student, said his arrival was a "joyous coup".
William's arrival would hugely benefit the local economy through increased numbers of tourists, Ivers said.
The article controversially ended with a call for the university's nearly 18,000 students to submit photographs of the Prince as part of a "#Where's Wills Twitter campaign".
The newspaper's editor, Will Heilpern, has been forced to admit that the campaign may have to be scrapped for fear of harassment claims.
"It was only a vague idea, so far we haven't done anything," he said.
