It may seem strange that losing a gun can also lose you a sword, but that’s the situation Prince William finds himself in at Sandurst Military Academy, where he is almost at the end of his year-long officers’ training.

William is said to have inadvertently committed one of the worst offences for a serving soldier, especially an officer. He lost his gun out in the country and, despite spending two hours frantically searching for it, failed to find the weapon. Another soldier handed it in later.

Unhappily for the Prince, this one incident could cost him the prized Sword of Honour, which is awarded to the best cadet each year. He was said to be a strong candidate for the award.

The gun concerned was an L86 Light Support Weapon, a very powerful armament capable of firing 775 rounds a minute. It is a higher grade version of the British Army’s standard issue SA80 rifle.

A source says : “William was due to spend a day on the ranges in preparation for a major exercise in Wales this week. He was given his SA80 rifle, the weapon that is personally assigned to him throughout his time at Sandhurst, but also signed out an LSW as he needed to ensure he was fully familiarized with it.

“All of the cadets, including the Prince, were given a full briefing first thing in the morning but it seems that he mislaid it sometime after that. William was really panicking as he knew he was in serious trouble. He even borrowed one of his mate’s bikes and spent several hours frantically scouring the academy for it. Much to his embarrassment, it was handed in about two hours later by another cadet. I’m not sure where it was found, but William was still in a lot of trouble.”

The source also said: “Fortunately there wasn’t any live ammunition in the gun as cadets aren’t given any bullets until they are ready to fire on the range. But that wouldn’t have helped him much. Losing your weapon is one of the worst mistakes you can make. It’s a real shame, though, if it costs him the Sword of Honour as William is shaping up to be a superb army officer.”

A Sandhurst spokesman confirmed : “In fact Officer Cadet Wales’s weapon was picked up and used by another cadet who handed it back a couple of hours later, so it wasn’t really missing at all,” he said.

Well, either that’s a convenient escape clause or William was the victim of a prank by a fellow cadet. If it robs him of the Sword of Honour, though, it will be a very expensive prank.

Hello Magazine has got a 16-page supplement on Prince William and Kate Middleton. Here’s their blurb :

“Why Kate is his one true love, how a Royal wedding would progress and which palatial estate they’ll make their home. Read more in an exclusive 16-page special in the issue of Hello! hitting newsstands starting today.”

A lot of people are talking about this, including The London News which calls them “the United Kingdom’s most beloved couple”. They obviously haven’t been reading the comments on Royal Anecdotes.

They even predict : “When Charles and Diana married, more than 750 million people watched the ceremony on TV. With William and Kate, that figure is likely to be outstripped.”

I can certainly believe that, mainly because there are far more television sets in the world now, plus internet streaming services and 24-hour news. Even so, I think the interest will be enormous.

How much real insider information they’ve got remains to be seen though.

Two very different takes on the Princely girlfriends appeared in the British Sunday press.

Barbara Ellen in The Observer had a real go at Kate Middleton, calling her boring and middle aged : “William seems to be suffering slow death by middle-aged domestication with the admittedly ‘lovely and fragrant’ Kate Middleton”

That was a low blow. But even worse follows : “While Kate Middleton types may be every man’s future, the Chelsy Davys of this world are every young man’s dream.”

To be placed below Chelsy in the eligibility pecking order is not what Kate is used to, but it now seems to be the order of the day.

In the Mail on Sunday, Elizabeth Sanderson praises Chelsy’s educational achievements, even though they’re not quite in the bag : “…she is an intelligent, driven girl who spends much of her days studying and is expected to get a double first in her philosophy, politics and economics degree from Cape Town University.”

She also picks up on a point about the complexity of her course we made here a while ago : “This is no mean feat: her course requires her to study logical and critical thought, international relations, and economic policy and the effects of globalisation. To get a double first from Cape Town, alma mater of the Nobel prize-winning author J.M. Coetzee, requires a sharp brain and serious dedication.”

So what to make of all that? Chelsy is clearly flavour of the month, while Kate is drifting a little. Time to sharpen those stilettos, I think.

The American MSNBC news network is reporting that Chelsy Davy is not so smart as her exam results suggest. Under the title, “Prince Harry’s sweetie is no brain surgeon” it makes her out to be a real dumbo. Here’s the piece :

The Royal’s sweetie, Chelsy Davy, is so prone to bloopers and malapropisms that Harry affectionately refers to her as “Dubya.” Harry keeps a poster of some of George W. Bush’s gaffes on his wall to remind him of his love, according to the London Sun.

Her brother Shaun told the paper, “Last month she said, ‘Shaun, are woolly mammoths extinct?’ I said, ‘You can’t be serious.’ But she was totally convinced mammoths were still alive.”

He added, “She asked our father why grass-eating buffalo didn’t eat deer when they got hungry. That’s Chelsy, and we love her for it.”

Is there a touch of sibling rivalry here?

You have to ask though, how would such a person get accepted for a postgrad degree at one of Britain’s Russell Group universities?