PRINCE 'CAN COPE WITH DRUG MENACE'

PRINCE William plans a career in the armed forces and is "mature
enough" to handle the threat of drugs, according to Earl Spencer.

"In the medium term, William wants to go into the armed services in
some form," the earl, brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales
said in an hour-long TV interview on the Larry King Live show in New
York.

The earl, who was promoting his book, Althorp: The Story of
an English House, said: "This is a traditional part of the
royal upbringing, but he'd actually like to do it of his own
volition, so that's great."

He described Prince Harry, 14, as "a very gifted sportsman", adding:
"I'm sure he'd love, at this moment, to be playing soccer for England,
but I don't know if that's possible."

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "Earl Spencer's opinions are a
matter for him. As far as Prince William's career options are
concerned, that is a matter for him to decide ."

Fears that Prince William, 16, could be affected by the drugs menace
were voiced after Tom Parker Bowles, the son of the Prince of Wales's
companion Camilla and a friend of the teenager, admitted taking
cocaine. The earl refused to be drawn on Mr Parker Bowles's
drug-taking, but said: "I'm sure ... that William is capable of making
his own decisions in this matter as to who his friends are and who
they aren't."

Prince Charles's relationship with Mrs Parker Bowles was not something
the earl had discussed with the princes, he said. "They're both so
mature, and they're both so well-grounded, that I think they can cope
with anything, really."

The earl also expressed his unhappiness with the Royal Family over
their treatment of Diana, Princess of Wales. He criticised the way she
was stripped of the title Her Royal Highness after her divorce. "She
felt it was almost insulting to, not only herself, but her sons," the
earl said. No members of the Royal Family, with the exception Princes
William and Harry, have visited the princess's grave, the earl said.

He said he had "remarkably few" feelings towards Prince Charles. "I
mean, nothing positive, nothing negative. I respect him very much as
the father of my two nephews, and that is how I view him really. I
always think after a divorce the most sensible thing is to view the
parents as parents first, and as anything else afterwards. And so
really no hard feelings, really."

The Spencers were "unanimous" in the belief that the princess's
relationship with Dodi, the son of the Harrods owner Mohamed al-Fayed,
would not have led to marriage. "My belief is that it was a summer
fling, a summer affair, and that was all it was ever going to be," he
said.