Is it Kate or Jecca?

For years he has gone to enormous lengths to ensure he is not spotted with a girlfriend.

But amid growing conjecture about the nature of his relationship with "first serious girlfriend" Kate Middleton, William is planning to spend his summer holidays with another girl.

He is heading for his beloved Kenya to meet up with Jecca Craig, with whom he was reported to have had an intimate friendship during his gap year.

William and Jecca will spend time together on her 55,000-acre wildlife reserve in the foothills of Mount Kenya, where their friendship first blossomed. It is understood Kate will not be among the party making the trip. Senior sources have played down claims that Kate, 21, who is among a group of friends currently holidaying with William at the Swiss ski resort of Klosters, and William are "an item".

They say that although William and the businessman's daughter are close friends and share digs they "do not share a bedroom".

Kate, who has been a friend of William since he went up to university, has reportedly enjoyed weekend trips to Prince Charles's home at Highgrove and Charles is said to approve of her.

She is said to be a close confidante, who even persuaded William to carry on with his studies when he thought of quitting, and has become even closer to him since splitting with her boyfriend four months ago. But one well-placed source said: "William is irritated by this because he hates his private life being in the spotlight. He guards his privacy and wants to protect his friends.

"He plans to go to Kenya this summer and will be staying with Jecca and her family. They are close, and I think all this attention on Kate is misplaced."

William authorised Clarence House to issue a statement denying the pair had a relationship but, like Kate, Jecca has recently split with her long-term shipping heir boyfriend, who was an Old Etonian schoolfriend of the prince.

William's circle have scoffed at claims of the seriousness of his relationship with Kate. One said: "It is not his style to parade the love of his life in front of the world's media. He is not daft, he knows the press are at the ski resort taking pictures. It is just not his style."