What it's like to be18 in Britain today

There is much talk of the monarchy modernising to fit in with the new Millennium. Indeed William, like hundreds of other teenagers, is planning to take a year out and go travelling before taking a place at university in 2001.

Yet, in many respects, old traditions will still dictate the path his future takes. Unlike most 18-year-olds who are free to choose what they do next with their lives, it is expected that William will follow Windsor tradition and have a spell in the forces - probably the Welsh Guards - after graduating. Bigger roles, of course, await.

But what of William's contemporaries? What are the hopes and dreams of 18-year-old lads today? And what do they think of William and his family?

We spoke to two young students from North Yorkshire to find out what it's really like to be 18 in Britain today.

Nikolas Voigt lives with mum Dorothea, dad Andy and brothers Johann, 16, Mishka, 15, and Sebastian, ten, along with four mentally handicapped adults in Norton, near Malton. The family are part of the Camphill community, which supports people with learning difficulties.

Nikolas relishes family life. "The thing about living with people with Downs Syndrome is that if I have had a really bad day you can guarantee that I'll be smiling by tea-time. They can cheer me up anytime - it's amazing. It's a great benefit that I live with them."

Nikolas spent last year working at another Camphill project in Botswana, where he spent his 18th birthday.

"We piled lots of mattresses, food and drink into a truck and took a six-hour drive out into the Kalahari desert. We camped and had a fire and started drinking. It was really great."

Now enrolled in a two-year BTEC course in media studies at York College, Nikolas says he can't shake off the travelling bug. He would like to go to South America, perhaps teaching English as a foreign language.

"In this culture there is way too much emphasis put on success," he says. "Everybody has their own abilities and everyone can work to some standard. People are totally disillusioned with parents and teachers saying that you have got to get 'As'."

Fellow York College student Andrew Connor agrees. He is in the second year of a National Diploma in 3D design and has won a place to study for a degree in transport design at Coventry University in September.

"There is too much pressure, especially on GCSEs which are not really that important. I failed my Art and Design GCSE, but I'm still going on to do transport design, where I will have to draw!

"There's too much emphasis on how you do in exams rather than what sort of person you are and what you want to be."

Andrew, who lives with mum Susan, dad John and brother Philip, 15, in Sand Hutton also wants to work abroad - preferably in America.

"In England everyone is uptight. My aunt lives in London and people there are so unfriendly. My family are very supportive.

"My brother is the same and he wants to travel too."

When it comes to politics, though, the boys hold quite different views. "If I was Prime Minister," says Nikolas. "I'd get rid of the Army. I also think that the tax from cigarettes should go to the NHS."

Andrew doesn't agree. "My dad was in the marines," he says. "Just look at what we did in Sierra Leone. You can use the Army to help and protect people."

His sore point is the price of petrol: it's too high and he can hardly afford to run his car - a C-reg Mini he bought for £600, which he saved up for from his wages as a shop assistant at the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet. Andrew works three days a week, earning £3.80 an hour. Besides petrol it helps pay for his social life which mostly involves nights out in York.

Nikolas will sit his driving test in two weeks' time, but already has a car: an E-reg Golf which set him back £500. He doesn't go out much at the weekends as he works two 12-hour shifts at the Malton Bacon Factory every Saturday and Sunday, earning £4.95 an hour.

Money may be tight, but their future is what they want to make it. Careers and travel are top of the agenda with girls, marriage and babies a long way off for both of them.

Drugs - every parents' worst nightmare - are just a fact of life, they both say. "Most young people will try drugs at some time," says Nikolas. "You have to do it, because there's such a big 'Do Not Touch' sign attached to it."

Andrew adds: "A lot of it is glamorised by the media. People will do it whether it's illegal or not.

"You can't really stop it. Most parents have done it anyway!"

Not surprisingly, neither Nikolas nor Andrew would wish to swap places with Prince William, who has had much to cope with in his young life, not least the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car crash three years ago.

What's more neither student believes that the country needs a royal family. However both say they'd like to meet William, if only for curiosity.

"I'd like to see what he's really like," says Nikolas. "If I was him, I'd be a total rebel. I'd leave home.

"But maybe he likes it. I'm sure he has his troubles.

"He's just another 18 year old and we all have the same problems inside - it's just the outside that's different."