PRINCE WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR

On Wednesday in Sydney the  second in line to the throne really did reverse the compliment, telling Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and four young hip-hop artists: “I usually get the p*** taken out of me for my choice of music.” It was a very mild form of swearing – indeed William did not even consider it swearing. “Perhaps public in front of a prime minister.

Then again Prince Philip is his grand-father so perhaps it is not too  surprising William has a talent for saying the unexpected.

Much of the informality was deliberate. As a military officer he has shown he can handle solemn and state occasions but he and his  advisers had wanted to create a relaxed feel to the tour, enabling him to connect more easily with a younger generation perhaps disillusioned with the  concept of the Commonwealth and the importance of the Royal Family to both nations’ identities.

Prince William is greeted by members of the public as he arrives

That meant instead of state banquets he went to four  barbecues in five days. At three of the four he found himself helping to cook for the other guests.

“I’ve spent the last two days behind a cloud of smoke,” he told New  Zealand Prime Minister John Key after confiding that he had tried to avoid similar duties for years at the barbecues Prince Philip likes to arrange for the family at Balmoral every summer.

In both New Zealand and Australia there has been burgeoning support for abolishing the British monarchy as the country’s head of state and replacing the Queen with a native-born president. New Zealand’s parliament is due to debate a Bill in March that would herald a  referendum but, as in Australia, royalists expect William’s  storming performance to revive support for the monarchy.

In Sydney in particular one carefully choreographed day of activity-packed events set against the dramatic backdrop of the city’s skyline and waterfront will live long in the memory.

It was a marketing man’s dream: the huge international publicity it generated will inevitably bring in millions in tourism revenue by showing off the city at its best and it produced a set of images that went around the world, high-lighting the Action Man Prince.

At Holsworthy army barracks William met Australian soldiers and took part in a live firing-range exercise, which he passed with flying colours. Even before then, in a breakfast engagement at a hostel for young homeless people, he had enhanced his youthful image by chatting about his  interest in hip-hop and rap music.

His team of advisers, led by private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton and his mentor on international affairs, former British diplomat Sir David Manning, gave him a half day off later that afternoon and evening. Typically he chose a high-octane way of resting: he sped around the  harbour on a rigid inflatable jet boat capable of doing 50 knots.

He played rugby, cricket, took the wheel of an Americas Cup  racing yacht and when his official duties were finished on Thursday night he spent a couple of hours at the Australian Open tennis tournament before catching his flight back home “It’s gone  incredibly well. It’s been a  fan tastic, fantastic tour,” one aide said.

And it was all covered by the biggest media pack to follow a royal since Diana, all hoping the trip, which included William’s first official overseas visit representing the Queen on the New Zealand leg of the journey, will set the marker for ones to come.

However, those are likely to be few and far between in the next few years.  William will gradually increase his royal duties but will concentrate on his career as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot. He does however plan to go  to South Africa this summer to attend the World Cup in his role as president of the Football  Association. He is also expected to go to neighbouring Lesotho to see the work that his brother Prince Harry’s charity Sentebale is doing with Aids orphans and others in the poverty-stricken mountain kingdom.

For now he must concentrate on his military career. He is due to report for duty at RAF Valley in Anglesey on Monday for the start of his specialist search and rescue training on Sea King helicopters. He plans to stay in the RAF for at least another three-and-a-half years.

Marriage to Kate Middleton looks inevitable but at what point is anyone’s guess. When she joins the Firm then the royal tour really will be back as a huge international news event.