Pr. William stocks up £850 alcohol Football party

[georg]

15 bottles of Pimms, please: Prince William stocks up with £850 worth of alcohol for football party

Last updated at 14:19pm on 7th June 2007

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=460532&in_page_id=1770

Prince William bought £850 worth of alcohol including an Asda store's entire stock of Pimms, just hours before Channel 4 screened a documentary about his mother's car crash.

The heir to the throne stripped shelves of Pimm's, vodka, rum and Carlsberg lager during a 60 minute shopping spree with army pals.

But rather than drowning his sorrows over the controversial TV show, staff believed William and army colleagues were planning a boozy night watching the England game.

Wearing a T-shirt, baseball cap and jeans, the 24-year-old prince filled four trolleys with wines, spirits, beer and snacks at the Asda store in Weymouth, Dorset, which is near Bovington Army Camp where he is training to be a troop leader.

At one point Wills even jumped on the back of the trolley and glided along as he made a bee-line for the drinks aisle.

He was accompanied by two army colleagues and two security guards and happily chatted with members of the public.

The Royal group filled up four trolleys with 15 bottles of Pimm's, several bottles of wine and spirits and a number of 24-packs of lager.

William and his army friends loaded up with 15 bottles of Pimms

Wills also bought an array of crisps, nuts and other snacks for the footie party.

The Prince then went to the check-out where he packed his shopping himself before paying for it, believed to be on a credit card.

Darren Rideout, the store manager, said: "He walked in at 2.10pm and looked just like any normal customer.

"He was with a couple of friends and they were all dressed very casually. It was only when we saw the two security guards that people started to recognise him.

"He pushed his own trolley and went out to get another because they bought so much.

"When he came back with it he jumped on it and free-wheeled across the aisle, just like a teenager.

"When customers realised who he was they started chatting to him and he seemed very amiable and was laughing and joking with them.

"He was the one who was selecting items off the shelves and by the end he had four trolley loads of shopping, which was mainly alcohol and snacks.

"He cleaned us right out of Pimm's, he took 15 bottles off the shelf.

"He also bought bottles of Vodka, Rum and wine and several bulk packs of lager, I think it was Carlsberg.

"But when he got to the check-out the cashier didn't actually recognise him, and he packed his own shopping."

Mr Rideout, 41, said Wills left the store at 3.15pm and drove off in a black Audi car followed by two black Range Rovers.

He added: "We do get troops in from time to time taking advantage of our cheap booze offers so I suppose it was his turn.

"The football was on last night so maybe they were stocking up for the night."