Prince William must feel as if a great weight has been lifted from his broad shoulders. No, he has not been excused becoming king someday - he's finished his final exams after four years at St Andrews University.

Hopefully the Prince, who celebrates his 23rd birthday later this month, will soon have an MA honours degree in geography to his name.

That's the good news.

The bad news, from William's point of view, is that he now faces the full glare of the media spotlight after a period of relative privacy, agreed by editors, for the duration of his education. So what will William do next?

He says he's too young to get married. Agreed.

Prospects of a career, in a commercial sense, are nil. Witness the problems encountered by his Uncle Edward and Auntie Sophie.

The Army looks his best shot, although at first he would be a junior officer to his younger, and extremely competitive, brother Prince Harry who is already at the elite Sandhurst military academy.

William has indicated that he would prefer the land forces to the Navy or Air Force, unlike his father, grandfather and great-grandfather who all answered the call of the sea and the ''senior service''.

Compared to his father, the Prince of Wales, William has been allowed much more personal choice in deciding his immediate future.

Charles was literally governed by committee. Wilful Wills was having none of that. He listens to the advice of his family, friends and officials at Court, but then makes up his own mind.

Talking to him, it is clear that the thing he fears most is losing control of his life. His destiny is decided. But, in the meantime, while he prepares to be king after his father, William wants to be firmly in control.

With this in mind, he will take his first tentative steps as a solo Royal in New Zealand at the beginning of July.

OK, so it may be a bit of a jolly, but William's rugby tour with the British & Irish Lions will include official engagements when he will represent his grandmother, the Queen.

He will take part in events, at Wellington and Auckland, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Other engagements are likely to be announced before he joins the Lions' squad for the second and third Test matches as a guest of head coach, Sir Clive Woodward.

Never refer to a senior member of the Royal Family as a mascot, but Sir Clive is certainly hoping William's presence will bring good luck for his team as well as boost morale.

Athletic William is a great rugby fan and is likely to train with the squad.

And with players selected from throughout the British Isles, Prince William of Wales will be able to cheer on Welsh team members for a change.

I know he was born in England - and chose to study at a Scottish university - but it has always puzzled me why William, like Harry, supports England and not the land of his royal allegiance, Wales.

Well done, though, William for navigating the ''freebie'' flight pitfall.

Wisely, he says he will pay for his own flights to and from New Zealand thus avoiding jibes that he is jollying at taxpayers' expense.

l Harry Mead is away