28 December,2010 07:33 AM IST | | Agencies
Royals, set to get married in a few months, choose to live life as a 'normal' couple
His father employs almost 150 staff to cater for his every need, but Prince William has insisted that he and Kate Middleton have no intention of taking on butlers or household staff after they begin married life in April.
The future king and queen have done everything they can to live like a 'normal' couple during their weekends together at the prince's rented cottage on Anglesey, off the north-west coast of Wales doing their own shopping, cooking and cleaning.
They have bodyguards on 24-hour duty to protect their isolated cottage, but they have told aides they intend to carry on fending for themselves when they return home after their wedding on April 29.
The couple believe that sharing their home with servants would ruin the intimacy of their relationship, and they will carry on looking after themselves until the prince finishes his tour of duty as an RAF search and rescue pilot in 2013.
A senior royal source said, "It's very much their instinct to manage on their own. They want to do their duty and make sure they are a real asset to the country, but they are private individuals who want to get on with their lives.
Prince William is not into extravagance and, like any other young officer in the armed forces, that is how he chooses to live his life. He and Catherine live without domestic staff and they wouldn't do it any other way. That's the life they want to lead."
"The prince is committed to his career at RAF Valley until 2013 and he wants his wife by his side during that time," he added.
The prince is very close to his grandmother, the Queen, and is aware of how fondly she and the Duke of Edinburgh recall their early married life together in Malta, where the duke was based as a naval officer.
The duke and the then Princess Elizabeth spent some of the happiest years of their lives at the Villa Guardamangia, the rented home of the duke's uncle, Lord Mountbatten, where they lived in near-anonymity from 1949 to 1951.
They regularly went dancing at a nearby hotel.
Prince William is also determined to shield his bride-to-be from the sort of media attention that surrounded his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, and cherishes the seclusion of Anglesey as a result.
His insistence on doing his own cooking and washing up is in stark contrast to his father, the Prince of Wales, who employs 149 staff, of whom 25 are classed as personal staff for himself, the Duchess of Cornwall and Princes William and Harry.
They include butlers, chauffeurs, valets and chefs and are paid a total of ufffd6.3 million (Rs 44 crore).
Waxwork
Kate Middleton may not get her place next to Prince William until late 2011, Madame Tussauds has said. The wax sculpture museum said it will try to book a sitting with Middleton after her wedding in April. It would then take sculptors up to four months to make the model.
