Prince William was ‘holy terror’ as a child, threatened palace staff with future king title

A new book has given incredible insight into the royal family, with one part revealing Prince William was so badly behaved that the Queen declared him “out of control”.

Prince William was a “holy terror” as a toddler.

In fact, even Queen Elizabeth complained to Prince Philip that their grandson was “out of control,” writes Tina Brown in her book, The Palace Papers, which drops today in the US but will be published on May 3 in Australia.

“She was not amused that he loved to say, ‘When I am king, I’m going to make a new rule that…’,” Brown writes.

Diana admitted that when she and Charles returned from a royal tour of Canada in 1983, William, whom they had nicknamed “Wombat,” was turning into “a holy terror – dashing about bumping into tables and lamps, breaking everything in sight”.

“By the time he was four, he had the unattractive habit of yapping at his nanny, Barbara Barnes, ‘No one tells me what to do! When I am king I will have you punished.’”

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Princess Diana and Prince William in 1987. Picture: Jayne Fincher/Getty Images

Highgrove guards grew weary of the youngster constantly squirting them with a water gun and at preschool he was infamously known as “Basher Wills”.

However, around the age of six, William began to behave and Harry morphed into an “exuberant imp of misrule” who once smeared sheep dung over his father’s suit as he was about to board a helicopter for an official trip.

“Look at me!” Charles is said to have wailed. “I am absolutely covered in sheep shit!”

As William grew older, he became a sounding board for Diana whom she saw as her “most trusted confidant” and “my little wise old man”.

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, is second in line to the throne. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

After one particularly horrid row between his parents, William famously pushed tissues under the door of her bathroom saying, “I hate to see you sad.”

“William understood Diana more (than Harry), but idealised her less,” Brown writes. “He was privy to her volatile love life. He knew the tabloids made her life hell, but he also knew she colluded with them.”

This article originally appeared on New York Post and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Prince William was ‘holy terror’ as a child, threatened palace staff with future king title