So what kind of birthday celebration was in the cards for a prince who has everything? A weekend away at a country house with girlfriend Kate Middleton and some pals and a trip to the seaside.
This was the simple, but idyllic, break that Prince William's girlfriend helped make special for her beau to mark his 27th birthday Sunday.
The weekend began with a bonfire on the sands near Fowey, in Cornwall. Later during the three-day celebration William and Kate played tennis and took some romantic beach walks.
Some of William's best friends tagged along, including pal Guy Pelly and Prince Harry, who dashed down from the RAF base where he and William are stationed.
Saturday, the rugby-mad princes and their pals took a boys' trip to a local club for former members of the Royal British Legion, where they watched a match beetween the British and Irish Lions and South Africa.
Club Steward Pat Barron tells PEOPLE, "Being serving members of the armed forces they were made most welcome. No one made a fuss of them, and they had a good time and enjoyed the game."
Their team lost but "Everyone was up on their feet, having a good time," said Barron. "I know they both love their sports. They have done us proud and hopefully we did them proud. It was good all around – they wanted to be treated like normal people and that's how it was. "
It was the day before William turned 27. "We didn't know – otherwise we would have made a cake or something," he adds.
On Sunday, the group was spotted on the local beach at Polkerris. "They were just hanging out, playing beach games," says a resident of Fowey who was passing by.
A friend of William's says, "It was all about getting a few of his best friends together and having a chilled-out time. They went for beach walks, played some tennis and had a bit of fun."
Clearly, William was happy to have his brother along. Just last week, the two princes displayed their easy-going relationship when they posed for cameras at their airbase. On that occasion Harry joked that he hadn't yet gotten a a present for William, but said his older brother was "brainier than me. I think we established that from school–and his baldness."
William retorted, "That's pretty rich coming from a ginger," before quickly adding, "He's a good-looking ginger so it's all right."