While Princess Diana and Prince Charles only officially divorced in 1996, their marital problems had begun years before. In 1992, the couple officially separated, after a series of incriminating tapes were leaked which proved affairs on both sides. As the separation became increasingly public, it’s clear the couple were keen to shield their children from the media circus.

At the time of separation, Prince William was 10 years old, and his brother Harry was eight.

Now, it has been revealed that Diana was so keen to keep William, at a more vulnerable and impressionable age, out of the media eye, she sent him to Montana, USA, on a secret trip.

The young prince was sent to E Bar L Ranch near Missoula, right in the heart of Montana State.

Charming details of the prince’s trip have been revealed for the first time in 20 years by Paul Beban to ABC News.

Mr Beban, who was 21-years-old at the time and working on the ranch for the summer, recalls the time spent with the future King of England fondly.

He wrote: “That summer, Princess Diana and Prince Charles’ marriage was falling apart.

“Every excruciating moment was playing out in the glare of the paparazzi’s camera flashes.

“In a plot to get him as far away as possible from the media circus, Diana arranged for William to take a secret vacation to the E Bar L ranch near Missoula, Mont.”

He added how the staff were “called together for a meeting, where we were stunned to learn that the incoming ‘special guest’ was Prince William.”

He wrote: “He’s coming, we were told, for privacy and for the very same reasons anyone else comes to the ranch: to ride, to fish, to shoot, to dance, to make friends and enjoy the beauty of this place. So just act natural.

“Right! Act natural with the heir to the British throne. No problem! Well, we’d do our best, whatever that meant.”

Mr Beban said that William was a bit shy for the first few days as he settled in, but soon got into the swing of things and “dove into daily life at the ranch”, with his “baseball cap replaced by a cowboy hat, which he wore tipped back on his forehead, just like the rest of us.”

By all accounts, it sounds like the trip was just what William needed.

Mr Beban wrote: “He rode. He shot…He danced, he sang, he made friends.

“As far as the ranch staff and the other guests were concerned, he was just a boy, just William. Not Your Majesty, not Your Highness. William, or even just Will.”

William even managed to arrange the ranch’s first-ever game of cricket with his bodyguards, and served tea and cucumber sandwiches!

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