Prince William has had to deal with the spotlight ever since he was born as a direct heir to the throne, which meant that even his childhood ramblings would make it to the news. His mother Princess Diana had to constantly ensure that her young boy was behaving like a proper royal, but there was one time that little William just ignored her advice and said what came to his mind.

It happened when William, accompanied by his mother, arrived at Wetherby School in London's Notting Hill for his first day of school. A huge group of photographers were already waiting there to capture the beginning of the school journey of the future king.

The Princess of Wales apparently gave her son a pep talk to prepare him for the awaiting media. Ken Wharfe, former bodyguard of William and his younger brother Prince Harry, recently revealed the conversation between the mother-son duo to Yahoo's Royal Box.

"Diana said to him in the car, 'when you get to school there are going to be lots of media and lots of photographers, you've got to behave yourself. You're going to get this for the rest of your life,'" Wharfe recalled.

However, William did not grasp his mother's warning and did the exact opposite of what she had told him to do. Stepping out of the car, the then four-year-old made a rather cheeky comment to the waiting photographers, bluntly telling them that he is not too fond of them.

Wharfe recounted, "William turned around and said something which was extraordinary. He said: 'Don't like 'tographers'."

Prince William now tries to keep the 'tographers' away from his own children, Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, three. He had only allowed a select few photographers on the first school day of his two elder children.

In addition, his wife Kate Middleton is an avid photographer and takes the official portraits of their children on special occasions like their birthdays instead of hiring a professional photographer.

Royal author Duncan Larcombe said that the Duchess of Cambridge herself "had a very happy childhood and really enjoyed her school days," and uses it as a "template" for bringing up her own three children.

"She's a very hands-on mum, so she always makes sure she's the one going with the children to buy school shoes as well as stocking up on school stationery," Larcombe told OK! magazine.

Princess Diana and sons
11 September 1989: Princess Diana stands with Prince William and Prince Harry on the steps of Wetherby School on her youngest son's first day Tim Graham/Getty Images