Unruly royal nicknamed 'Basher' once ruined a child's party hurling sandwiches

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Princess Diana with Prince William and Prince Harry in Lech, Austria (Image: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)
Princess Diana with Prince William and Prince Harry in Lech, Austria (Image: Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)

A royal biographer has revealed that a popular member of the Royal Family was given a very telling nickname as he was an unruly child and once disrupted a children's party by hurling sandwiches around.

He is now a family man and has three kids with his wife Catherine, but as a child, Prince William was known for being "noisy" and "cheeky" at home and at school. Such were his exploits, royal biographer Robert Lacey revealed he earned a nickname that seems very far from the image we now have of the Prince of Wales.

The author wrote in his book 'Battle of Brothers' that William was once known as Basher Wills or Billy the Basher. He claimed that William often got "involved in playground fights" with other children and said that his mum Diana once even called him "a holy terror".

Unruly royal nicknamed 'Basher' once ruined a child's party hurling sandwiches qhiqquiquidtqinvPrince William was an unruly child, according to Mr Lacey (Getty Images)
Unruly royal nicknamed 'Basher' once ruined a child's party hurling sandwichesWilliam with his mum during his first official engagement in Cardiff in March 1991 (Getty Images)

Mr Lacey wrote: "The young prince had picked up his nicknames of ‘Basher Wills’ or ‘Billy the Basher’ when he joined Mrs Jane Mynors’ Nursery School in Notting Hill, not far from Kensington Palace, in September 1985. Noisy, cheeky and defiant of discipline, Wills soon angered his classmates by pushing his way to the front of the dinner queue and getting involved in playground fights. The Prince's mother, Princess Diana, once even called her son 'a holy terror'."

According to the writer, William would tell other children: "My Daddy can beat up your Daddy. My Daddy's the Prince of Wales." In his book, Mr Lacey also wrote that neither Charles or Diana wanted to be strict parents with William - and that is when Nanny Ruth Wallace came in.

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The author wrote that in the autumn of 1987, the nanny was forced to bring William home after he had "a tantrum" at a party, and had started throwing sandwiches and ice cream around the room because he had not been allowed to blow out the candles on the cake. According to Mail Online, the nanny made him clean up the mess before he left. Mr Lacey wrote: "In the autumn of 1987, she yanked the five-year-old home from a birthday party following a tantrum when he had not been allowed to blow out the candles on the cake and had expressed his displeasure by throwing sandwiches and ice cream around the room."

According to 'The Palace Papers' by Tina Brown, the late Queen Elizabeth was concerned about William's behaviour as she thought he was "out of control" in his childhood. She wrote: "As a toddler, [William] had been a cause of concern to the Queen when he showed signs of being a brat. She complained to her husband that their grandson was 'out of control' and needed a stricter nanny. She was not amused that he loved to say, 'When I am king, I’m going to make a new rule that.."

It was also claimed that Princess Diana described her eldest son as "dashing about bumping into tables and lamps, breaking everything in sight." Ms Brown wrote: "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'."

Chiara Fiorillo

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