Prince William returning to his RAF Valley in Anglesey today, days after his wedding was watched by two billion around the world
A few days ago his every move was watched by an estimated two billion people.
But today it was back to more familiar territory as Prince William returned to work at his RAF base in Anglesey.
Wearing sunglasses he was behind the steering wheel of an Audi seen arriving at the Air and Sea Rescue HQ.
Wearing sunglasses, Prince William drove into the Air and Sea Rescue HQ at RAF Valley
It was thought Prince William and his bride would honeymoon this week until it emerged that the new Duke of Cambridge had to return to work.
Despite his status as second in line to the throne he, like his colleagues, had to apply for leave like his colleagues.
He was given a week off for the wedding but was told that he would have to split any further holiday requests – hence the delayed departure date.
The Mail revealed this week that the couple are due to fly out by private jet in mid-May before being taken by helicopter from the mainland to a tropical retreat.
Two Scotland Yard protection officers checked the destination a fortnight ago to ensure it would give the couple the privacy they crave.
As her son-in-law returned to work, Carole Middleton and daughter Pippa were seen arriving back at their Berkshire home
Prince William had to delay his honeymoon as he was ordered to split his leave requests with colleagues
The Mail is not publishing details of the location, and it is understood that not even Kate is aware of the exact destination.
The Prince is not the only wedding guest who returned to their everyday life just days after the global event of the Royal Wedding.
Five days ago the Queen was the proud grandmother overseeing a wedding watched by two billion people.
But after the bank holiday it was back to the daily routine for the monarch yesterday as she visited Newmarket, Cambridge.
Refreshed: Five days after the wedding the Queen met children at Newmarket Day Centre
The heat is clearly getting to Prince William as sweat pours from his brow during his tour of Queensland
With his mind very much on his impending wedding, Prince William could perhaps be excused for occasionally feeling a little warm under the collar.
But on a tour of Queensland, Australia, yesterday his normal healthy glow turned to a Royal flush as he struggled to cope in 95F heat.
Visibly wilting with sweat pouring from his forehead, the Prince managed to hold on to his sense of humour and quipped: ‘I’m from England. I’m far too pasty. I need some sunshine.’
The Prince, on a five-day tour of Australia and New Zealand, has been dubbed ‘the Prince of Hearts’ in the north-east of Queensland, which in February was devastated by some of the worst cyclones and flooding in Australia’s history.
He struggled to cope with the heat during a walkabout in Cairns, but told admirers: ‘It’s much nicer down here. The weather at home is dreadful.’
He has wowed the Australians by dressing casually for most of the trip in lightweight trousers and an open- necked pale blue shirt, and insisting on being addressed by his first name.
Unlike his father, who often travels with an extensive team of aides, William has only a small entourage.
An aide said: ‘William likes to keep things simple. He doesn’t want to wear a suit unless he has to and he likes to keep things relaxed. That’s his own way and how he likes things.’
Jim Nicholson, 68, president of the Cardwell Lions community group, said: ‘He’s a really normal, casual chap. He calls you by your first name just like his mother used to do. Diana would have been the proudest woman in the world if she’d been here today.’
Martin Taylor, 40, officer in charge of the Queensland Ambulance service, said: ‘He’s a leader, you can tell by his stature. We chatted about the recovery stage and he was very understanding.’
Earlier he spoke to people who lost their homes and livelihoods and chatted with the emergency services as he visited the ravaged towns of Cardwell and Tully.
His second port of call was to the Royal Flying Doctor service in Cairns. Then his whistlestop tour took him on to a reception with volunteers from the Red Cross and the emergency services who helped during the disaster.
William has wowed the Australians by dressing casually for most of the trip in lightweight trousers and an open- necked pale blue shirt, and insisting on being addressed by his first name
The Prince is warmly received in the flood ravaged town of Cardwell and chatted with residents who lost their homes and livelihoods
Prince William sparked excitement earlier in the day when he mentioned returning to the country for his honeymoon.
He made the comment on a visit to Cairns' cruise ship terminal during what some people have dubbed his 'disaster tour'.
After visiting Christchurch, New Zealand, the prince arrived in Queensland, Australia, today where he visited people affected by Cyclone Yasi.
He went to the coastal towns of Cardwell and Tully, before meeting excited locals at the cruise ship terminal, where he sparked hysteria.
William, who is to marry fiancee Kate Middleton on April 29, met Briton Tania Moore, 39, who moved to the area 10 years ago from Winchester.
She said: 'He asked me what I'd be up to today and I said, 'Oh I've been up to the Great Barrier Reef with my kids. It's just stunning - you should go there. Will you get to see it?.'
He reaches out to shake hands with Jane Machin, five, as he leaves the community hall in the town of Cardwell. The youngster had written a sign reading 'Welcome William Our Shining Prince'
Proud Jane shows off the sign she made to welcome the town's royal visitor
Ms Moore, who met the prince with her son Alex, seven, and five-year-old daughter Jessica, said he replied: 'No I wanted too, but I won't have time.'
'Then he was asking about the visibility under water, what type of fish we saw on the reef,' she said.
'This man will be king one day and there he was asking about my day at the beach.
'I asked him when he was going to come back and he said, 'well we might have to come back for our honeymoon!' Everyone started shrieking and applauding.'
The Prince promised wellwishers he would return, and told them: ‘I love scuba-diving. I have always wanted to dive the Barrier Reef. I will have to come back and maybe honeymoon in Cairns. You are all invited to the wedding. I expect to see you all there. I want to see lots of Aussie flags outside the Abbey.
‘I’ve missed all the preparations in the past week.’
Despite flagging in the heat, the Prince told The Mail on Sunday he was coping well.
He said: ‘I’m doing really well and feeling great. Not too much jet-lag, thank goodness.’
Yesterday’s visit was 28 years to the day since Prince Charles and Diana visited Australia with William as a nine-month-old baby.
Flipped out: Kate Middleton concentrates on pancake-tossing as Prince William looks on during their trip to Belfast on Shrove Tuesday
Kate Middleton added another talent to the list as she showed off her pancake-tossing skills today in Belfast.
The future Princess celebrated Shrove Tuesday by mastering the art of the flip, impressing the crowds - and Prince William - with her culinary trick. The Royal couple are touring the UK ahead of the wedding in April and by the looks of things, there is little doubt that she is settling into her new role with confidence and ease.
Mastering the art: Kate looked even more relaxed and at ease as she settles into her new role
And for a refreshing change, Kate opted to wear an on-trend £650 Burberry trench coat with skirt detailing, a notable contrast to the more formal attire we have seen over the last two weeks - swapping her flat boots for high-heel courts.
Perhaps Kate, 29, has been taking note of the fashion critics who have called for the future Princess to adopt an edgier, younger look.
There have already been reports that Kate has decided to have her wedding dress designed by Alexander McQueen's avant-garde protegee Sarah Burton - a welcome choice in the fashion world.
Greetings: The couple meet Lord Mayor Pat Convery and Dame Mary Peters, right, a former Olympic pentathlon athletics champion who is now the Lord Lieutenant of Belfast
And although the rumours have been heavily denied, it seems Kate's slight but bold sartorial adjustment today is a statement that she intends to make conscious fashion decisions when it comes to her wardrobe.
Either way, she looked stunning in the neutral piece, teamed with opaque tights and sapphire engagement ring as the couple brought the centre of Belfast to a standstill.
A small crowd gathered in the bright sunshine inside the grounds of City Hall in the hope of a walkabout after police sealed off streets and diverted traffic as part of a huge security operation for the couple's first visit to Northern Ireland.
Sartorial hit: Kate looked stylish and on-trend in a £650 belted Burberry trench coat with skirt detailing
They arrived at the George Best City Airport at Sydenham, east Belfast.
The couple were met by Lord Mayor Pat Convery and Dame Mary Peters, a former Olympic pentathlon athletics champion who is now the Lord Lieutenant of Belfast.
It was the first in a series of engagements planned for the couple, who are to marry at Westminster Abbey on April 29.
People person: The future Princess hugs a newborn, and shows off her sapphire engagement ring
Fans: The crowds gathering in the city centre after word leaked out because of the heavy security presence
The couple accepted a framed photograph of City Hall and a book on the building's architectural history.
They arrived in an eight-car cavalcade, with William and Miss Middleton in the second.
They paused for a time on the steps of the front door, acknowledging the cheering crowd, some of whom waved miniature Union Flags.
The look of love: Kate shoots an admiring glance at her future husband
Heavily-armed police patrolled adjoining and nearby streets, and at one stage used steel rods to check litter bins close to the City Hall gates and grounds.
One officer using binoculars kept watch from the rooftop of the Robinson & Cleaver building directly opposite, and at least two others, also using binoculars, positioned themselves on the top of City Hall, just few away from the Union Flag which fluttered in a gentle breeze.
Surprise: Senior officials at the Northern Ireland Office who were involved in organising the trip did not confirm William and Kate even planned to make the visit until their aircraft landed in east Belfast
Senior officials at the Northern Ireland Office who were heavily involved with Buckingham Palace in organising the trip did not confirm William and Kate even planned to make the visit until their aircraft landed in east Belfast.
But by the time the entourage pulled up in front of City Hall, word had already leaked out because of the heavy security presence.
No longer just good friends: Prince William and Miss Middleton together at a rugby match in 2004
The waiting is finally over, for Kate Middleton and Britain. Prince William, heir to the throne, appears to have found his perfect girl-next-door in the form of a friend from university.
Almost from the moment they first stepped out together, back in 2003, the nation has been anticipating the announcement of an engagement. Eight years later, that day has arrived.
It has been such a long time coming, poor Miss Middleton, 28, has earned the nickname 'Waity Katie', with her regular presence on his arm at the weddings of his friends drawing criticism that she has been hanging on for a proposal. But her patience has finally paid off, and she can finally look forward to planning her dream wedding, set to take place next spring or summer.
The couple's long courtship began with a friendship back in 2001, when they met at St Andrews University.
it has been a far from easy ride for the bride-to-be, whose family, career and even fashion sense have come under criticism over the past decade.
Her lack of blue blood has been a source of criticism, even though the Countess of Wessex and Sarah Ferguson both hail from more aristocratic backgrounds.
Miss Middleton, who was studying history of art, had an early taste of the limelight during their first year, when William was spotted in the audience as she modelled in a charity fashion show.
The Prince, who read geography at the Scottish university, paid £200 to watch fellow students take to the runway, but Miss Middleton, in a sheer black lace dress over a black bra and bikini bottoms, stole the show.
Though the pair would go on to live together during their second year, they did not start dating straight away. Miss Middleton dated fellow student Rupert Finch, while William was linked with close friend Jecca Craig.
It is not known exactly when William and Kate became an item but it is rumoured to be around Christmas 2003. Their romance was finally exposed after they were pictured on the ski slopes of Klosters together in March 2004.
William's statement on the same holiday was perhaps an indication of the wait Miss Middleton had coming. He said: 'I don't want to get married until I'm at least 28, or maybe 30.'
The following year, William was still noncommittal about the relationship, and Miss Middleton was a noticeable absence at his father's wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles.
Just three months later, however, she was on his arm at the wedding of William's close friend Hugh van Cutsem - the first of many the pair will attend together.
Shortly after, their families met for the first time their graduation ceremony. Now that their studies were over, it would be the first of many occasions that would spark rumours of an engagement. Separate lives: The couple were forced to endure long periods apart when William began his Army Officer training at Sandhurst in 2005.Kate was hounded by photographers and was forced to threaten legal action
Instead they would enjoy a string of lavish holidays, taking in the Lewa Downs game reserve in Kenya, and another skiing trip to Klosters, where they were pictured kissing for the first time, before William began his Army training at Sandhurst.
Breaks in his training were also punctuated by luxury getaways in Mustique and Ibiza.
Of course, this would do nothing to deter media interest in the couple, which would become so intense, that in 2005, Miss Middleton's lawyers - the same used by the Prince of Wales - ask newspaper editors to leave her alone, claiming she is being hounded by photographers.
Public romance: The pair kiss on the slopes during a skiing holiday in Klosters, Switzerland, in 2006
Further complaints were made over the following year, and legal action was threatened.
The media attention focused on the couple was so intense, that the pair even split, briefly, in April 2007.
It was not to last long though. Just two months later the couple were seen kissing and dancing together at an Army party, and by May the following year, it seemed that the relationship was back on track when Kate attended the wedding of William's cousin, Peter Phillips, to Autumn Kelly, on her own, while her beau attended another wedding in Africa.
Meanwhile, Miss Middleton responded to public criticism over her lack of career - one of the factors that earned her the 'Waity Katie' nickname, with a job as an accessories buyer with Jigsaw, the fashion chain owned by friends of her family.
Back together, April 2008: The couple's reunion appears permanent, following a brief split in 2007
But it was during William's Sandhurst passing-out parade that Miss Middleton's mother, Carole came under fire.
Mrs Middleton, whose former career as an airline stewardess earned her the sniffy nickname 'Doors To Manual', was highly criticised for chewing what turned out to be nicotine gum during the formal ceremony.
But the couple would spend increasing amounts of time with each others' parents - they spent New Year together in 2008 at Birkhall, Prince Charles’s private residence on the Balmoral estate, and in December 2009, the Queen's lawyers warned newspapers against publishing paparazzi photos of the Royal family, fuelling speculation (again) of an engagement.
But still, there was no news of a Royal wedding, not even when William joined the Middleton family on a skiing holiday in Courcheval in March this year.
Engaged: Kate Middleton and Prince William at a wedding last month. The pair are to marry next summer
When asked by a member of the public about the prospect of a royal wedding, William said: 'You'll have to wait a while yet.'
But the rumour mill into overdrive when Miss Middleton's parents were spotted enjoying a shooting weekend at Birkhall earlier this month - a clear sign that the middle-class family had been accepted into the Royal fold.
And last week Royal aides would not rule out the prospect of an invitation for Miss Middleton to spend Christmas Day on the Sandringham estate for the first time - though this now looks less likely given that William has volunteered to work at RAF Valley in Anglesey on Christmas Day.
Though given that Miss Middleton has a lifetime of Royal formality ahead of her, she may be relishing the fact that this is the last 'normal’ Christmas she has left.
THE GIRLS HE LEFT BEHIND
No less than three of William's old flames attended the wedding of his friend Harry Meade in Gloucestershire last month.
While it is unlikely that, after ten years, any of these girls are brokenhearted, the Prince has left a string of beauties in his wake.
Olivia Hunt: Aged 28, she dated William at St Andrews, swiftly quitting the scene upon Kate's arrival. The trio have remained friends, however, and Olivia went on to romance William van Cutsem, son of Prince Charles's friend Hugh. That relationship has since ended.
Jecca Craig: The 28-year-old party events manager was William's Kenyan teen romance. Their love blossomed at her family's Lewa Downs 55,000-acre game reserve. She broke off her engagement to her long-term boyfriend, Hugh Crossley, last year.
Rose Farquhar: The aspiring actress, now 26, stole William's heart after he left Eton in the summer of 2000. Rose, daughter of Captain Ian Farquhar, master of the Beaufort Hunt, has known William since they were children and they are still firm friends
Jecca Craig, whom he met as a teenager, was the first to be romantically linked with him. William was said to have been so besotted with the heiress that they staged a
mock engagement ceremony when he spent his gap year in Kenya on her family's estate. Rose Farquhar was William’s first serious girlfriend, and dated the prince shortly after he left Eton.
And during his first year at St Andrews University, he dallied with Olivia Hunt, but the relationship soon fizzled out.
Prince William returning to his RAF Valley in Anglesey today, days after his wedding was watched by two billion around the world
Wearing sunglasses, Prince William drove into the Air and Sea Rescue HQ at RAF Valley
As her son-in-law returned to work, Carole Middleton and daughter Pippa were seen arriving back at their Berkshire home 
Prince William had to delay his honeymoon as he was ordered to split his leave requests with colleagues
