Wills Feted, But Charles Partied Hardly

When Prince William turned 18 on June 21, it caused quite a stir among teeny boppers, the tabloid press,and the Royal Family (TSG digs Wills because he's more wholesome than Oasis's Gallagher brothers, but randy enough to swap e-mails with bubblegum vamp Britney Spears). But all this fuss must strike his Pops as rather peculiar. As these memos from Britain's national archives show, when Prince Charles hit 18 in November 1966, there was decidedly less tumult. In fact, Prime Minister Harold Wilson chose only to send a telegram, as his handwritten notes show on the first memo. In notations on the second document, Wilson passes on a holiday shindig for the Prince of Wales, writing "Perhaps better wait. Palace might think I was honing in--especially if it got into Press." (2 pages)

The Beatles, of course, always caused a commotion.