Prince William nearly dropped out of college - until a conversation with Prince Charles changed his mind.

Prince William's (open in new tab) life was about to take a very different path.

According to royal historian Robert Lacey, the Duke of Cambridge came close to dropping out of college after his first semester at the University of St. Andrews.

In his book Battle of Brothers (opens in new tab) (according to the Mirror (opens in new tab)), Lacey describes Will's early days at university, where the young royal's highlights of attending school included "shopping at the local Tesco" He felt that it included obvious non-academic work, such as "shopping at the local Tesco," and he noted that his nights out were "clouded" by the attention of his classmates, who were attracted to enrolling with the royal family.

By the time he returned to London for Christmas of his freshman year, Lacey says, Will had told his father, Prince Charles (opens in new tab), that he was ready to quit (or at least change schools).

"It was no different than what many first-year students go through," Marc Boland, who worked as a royal "spin doctor" in Prince Charles' office, told Lacey.

"We saw it as upsetting, but it was perfectly normal."

Even though the royal public relations team was immediately convinced that Will was a normal case of a college-bound student, his father had to convince the young royal to stay the course, having a heart-to-heart over the Christmas vacations.

Instead of dropping out or transferring, William was encouraged to change his major from art history to geography.

"St. Andrews has a flexible course structure, and when they heard that William might be happier with a geography major, they saw no obstacles," Borland reported.

Leaving St. Andrews obviously had a profound impact on Will's life - especially since the royal family met his future wife Kate Middleton (opens in new tab) at the school not long after he decided to stick it out.

"Destiny," we think.