Robert Jobson, author of the excellent 2006 book, William’s Princess, wrote in yesterday’s News of the World:

Prince William has ruled out marriage to girlfriend Kate Middleton next year because he is too busy.

Instead, he will step up his role as a roving royal with two ground-breaking official tours to South Africa and Australia.

The prince is also determined to complete his tough helicopter training course, to become an RAF search and rescue pilot.

His hectic schedule means Kate and Wills — both now 27 — could be approaching 30 before they wed. One high-ranking Palace figure told the News of the World: “All this talk of a wedding next summer is wide of the mark.”

William’s trip to Australia is expected to take place early in the New Year.

He will travel to South Africa in June, where he will carry out a series of engagements and attend the World Cup in his role as President of the FA.

While there he will also promote England’s bid to host the 2018 tournament.

I won’t comment on the sourcing of this information, merely point out that it fits with what I’ve been writing here for two years.

Another year, another excuse.

John Evans

So Prince William and Kate Middleton attended a polo match over the weekend and *gasp* he put his arm on her shoulder in a gesture of affection (pictured).

This is a couple who have been in and out of “going out” for so long, you almost have to be of the Queen Mother’s generation to remember when it all began.

Nowadays, they are spotted together two or three times a year, usually at polo or shooting parties. Their public appearances go round in circles without ever getting anywhere. It’s a bit like watching one of those everlasting film loops on the 24-hour news channels.

What is the real story behind this sporadic romance that would never make the pages of Mills and Boon? Sometimes I think even they don’t really know where it will end. They act like a couple whose early romance has spluttered out, but are so comfortable with each other, they can’t bring themselves to end it completely.

When the Prince finished his military training last year, it was generally assumed he would settle down and help out the family firm, especially his elderly grandmother. Visions of a glittering Royal wedding became the norm in the media and beyond.

Then, William surprised everyone, including Kate and his minders, by signing up for a long stint as a helicopter pilot in the RAF. Incredibly, his brother, Prince Harry, also sank his future in a similar role with the Army. We now have the second and third-in-line to the Throne training to fly helicopters in hazardous circumstances for years to come.

While I can understand Harry wanting to see action, it doesn’t make sense for his elder brother also to seek harm’s way. The Armed Forces can’t be that short of helicopter pilots that a whole generation of Royal heirs have to be drafted in.

While the Queen is sensibly rationing her daily workload, and the Prince of Wales — now the oldest occupier of that title in history — is not the sprightly youth he once was, it is inexplicable that the Monarchy’s future, the younger Princes, should absent themselves when the Queen needs them most.

This loop will run and run. I suspect most of us are bored stiff with it already.

William should take care that the public don’t forget about him entirely, hardly recognizing the man when he finally ascends to the Throne, a stranger to his people.

John Evans

It’s about time we revisited this almost ancient storyline which was once so huge, but now just perks up a tad on the few occasions they are spotted together.

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s relationship is now so low key that it survives in the public mind only on the memory of what happened more than two years ago. Nothing of substance has been added since then. In fact, Carole Middleton’s negative comments appear to have downgraded it further.

Despite that, some journalists still call Kate “William’s girlfriend”. Could that be because no other girlfriend has been in evidence?

Richard Kay’s comment on Channel 4 that Kate has become a kind of smokescreen, allowing William to play the field, begs some questions.

If they are “just friends” it would be to her advantage to go along with it and remain in the Prince’s circle.

Publicly, Kate’s status is non-defined, neither one thing nor another. That’s not a good place for a bright 27 year-old to be.

Wild speculation has now given way to yawning apathy. For William, that’s not a good situation either. He will need a store of popularity to perform his role in future years.

Has his new publicist team decreed a Trappist-like existence for the Prince? Or is it William’s decision to stay out of the spotlight?

As for Kate: if a particular species of bird becomes rare, then not sighted at all, in most cases it’s become extinct.

That would be a pity though.

Now here’s an intriguing question for the weekend.

We received an email about Royal fertility tests for women intending to marry a senior Prince. I think it merits some careful consideration.

It’s known that this practice has traditionally been part of the process of the marriage ritual of heirs, or very near heirs, to the Throne. Diana had to undergo a medical examination and we know that it was successful.

What, though, if someone failed? These days the hurdles are much higher than even 20 years ago. It’s not just a Yes/No verdict that’s available. DNA testing can throw up a mass of probability data over a wide range of genetic diseases.

Where does the fail point lie: a one in ten chance, one in 100, one in a million? Most people would probably fail if the criteria were set too high.

Now here’s the rub. How would the Palace handle a situation where a young women was generally fertile, but who had a mild to medium chance of producing children with some genetic disability?

Obviously, they wouldn’t splash it all over the press. If some journalists discovered the truth, editors would be very wary of putting private medical information into the public domain. There might even be general agreement across the media not to publicize it at all.

And how would this play into the current situation of both the heir’s heir and the spare’s long-term girlfriends?

This is a hypothetical question, but one which will make life very difficult in the future for the Royal Family and pose a variety of ethical and practical questions in an age of maximum media exposure.