Royal thank-you to Scotland

Prince William is studying in Scotland

Prince William has attended his first ever garden party.

The Golden Jubilee event was hosted by Prince Charles in the grounds of the Queen's official residence in Edinburgh, the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

The party was also the first attended by Camilla Parker Bowles, who was there as Prince Charles' companion.

Prince Charles and Prince William spoke to guests

The guests included representatives from voluntary organisations, charities, community groups, arts organisations, rural communities and the public sector.

Prince William, 20, is currently on vacation after his first year at St Andrews University in Fife, where he is studying art history.

He wanted to attend the annual garden party to say thank-you to Scottish people for making him feel welcome - and received plenty of careers advice in return from those he talked to among the 4,000 guests.

William spoke to 19-year-old Iain Hatton, a cadet sergeant with the Scots Guards - one of the regiments he is tipped to join when he completes his studies.

"He recognised my Scots Guards uniform and was asking me things like where I was based," said Mr Hatton.

He's obviously very keen on his sport, and he spoke about tennis and football

Jim Dalziel
Party guest

"He asked if my dad had been the influence behind me joining the Army, and said his dad was a big influence to him."

William also spoke to Trevor McGrath, a chief petty officer on Trident submarine HMS Vigilant, about serving in the armed forces.

"He was asking about the service and what it was like to serve on a submarine. He wanted to know if it was claustrophobic.

"He seemed very interested in it and said he wanted to have a look round a submarine.

"I wouldn't go as far as saying he wanted to join up, but he was very interested," said the 55-year-old, who is based at Faslane.

Curling champions

Prince William also chatted about the tennis at Wimbledon, admitting to being a "nervous wreck" while watching Tim Henman win through.

Marilyn Cooper, 53, from Selkirk, said: "He was very upset about (Greg) Rusedski losing. He had watched it on the telly earlier.

"But he said England had done very well in the football and he was proud."

He also spoke to the Scottish team who won gold at the Ladies World Curling Championships in April.

Camilla Parker Bowles attended the event

Edith Loudon, from Perth, said: "We were very surprised that he was introduced to us.

"We were introduced to him as the world champions... and he said he had watched the Olympic curlers, but he couldn't understand why we all wanted to chase a piece of rock about on an ice rink."

Jim Dalziel, 55, head teacher at Eastbank Academy in Glasgow, said William was "very self-assured and very pleasant to everybody".

"I thought he was almost as good looking as my own son, and that's extremely high praise in my book," he said.

"He's obviously very keen on his sport, and he spoke about tennis and football.

"He even mentioned the problems we're having here with the (Scottish) Premier League."