Registering as William Wales, Prince William, the future heir to the British throne has posted his entry on networking website Facebook.

Prince William appears to have registered last week with the increasingly addictive site where friends can check out your latest snaps, by posting a photograph of himself in sunglasses and a ski hat.

This means members of the public can check out the Prince's profile, send him a message or have the pleasure of "poking" him (a more immediate attempt to grab his attention), The Daily Mail reported.

In fact, a group entitled "I poked Prince William" has also been created on Facebook. So far, 23 members have joined.

The sender then receives an email from Facebook asking them to confirm how they know William.

Never short of chums, so far 43 "friends" have registered, such as society girl Alexandra Aitken and professional polo player Jack Kidd as well as three friends from his school days at Eton and 19 St Andrew's alumni, including Camilla Attwood and Edmund Glover.

The most surprise entry is Basil Brush. "We're not sure when he made the Prince's acquaintance," the report said.

The entry by a certain "Katherine Middleton" is misleading. It's not in fact the Prince's former girlfriend, who spells her full name with a "C", but another friend with a similar name.

As to the legitimacy of the entry, a spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said, "If Prince William were on Facebook, we would consider it a private thing and not comment on it."      Strangely, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, known enthusiasts of the site, have yet to join the growing list of chums on their cousin's page.

The growing influence of Facebook recently hit the headline with last month's Virginia Tech massacre in the US.

Visitors were able to pay tribute to those that were killed by gunman Cho Seung-Hui, including the first victim 18-year-old Emily Hilscher.