Princess Beatrice, the Duke and Duchess of York's elder daughter, is planning to join the growing number of students rejecting British universities to study in America.

　　The princess, 17, intends to follow the example of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's daughter, Lady Gabriella Windsor, and study at an American college.

　　Over the past decade, the Duchess of York has spent several months of every year in the United States and she has a home in New York. She earns an estimated ?2 million a year in America, with her most lucrative contract being to promote Weightwatchers.

　　The Duchess started spending more time in the US in order to pay off her ?3 million debt that she built up at the end of her failed marriage to Prince Andrew. The couple divorced in 1996 but remain close.

　　"America is her mother's second home now and Beatrice loves the idea of studying there," said a friend of the Yorks. "She hangs out at the Manhattan apartment her mother rents and loves the fact she can pretty much come and go as she pleases without having to worry about the paparazzi."

　　The princess, the fifth in line to the throne, is in the first year of her A-levels studies at St George's School, in Ascot, Berkshire, where the fees for boarders are more than ?21,000 a year. Her sister, Princess Eugenie, 15, attends Marlborough College, where fees for boarders are almost ?22,000 a year. Princess Beatrice achieved two A*s, two As and five Bs in her GCSEs earlier this year. The results were seen as impressive as she had been set back a year in school after being diagnosed with dyslexia at the age of seven.

　　She hopes to win a place at an Ivy League university - one of the eight most prestigious colleges in the US. If she wins a place, Princess Beatrice would join the growing number of British students who are choosing to pursue their studies in America, where there is world-class teaching, generous financial support and widely envied facilities.

　　The princess's choice of university may be influenced by Lady Gabriella, who graduated from Brown University, Rhode Island, last year. Tuition and fees at Brown, whose famous alumni include John Kennedy Jnr and Ted Turner, are $40,000 (?22,000) a year.

　　Lady Gabriella, 24, spent four years at Brown studying Spanish and English literature. She also met her boyfriend, Aatish Taseer, the son of a prominent Indian journalist, while at university in the US.

　　Princess Beatrice will be the first member of the Royal Family to attend university since her cousin, Prince William, graduated from St Andrews with a 2:1 in geography earlier this year.

　　She spoke recently about her struggle to overcome dyslexia, which affects reading and writing skills. "I have been given circumstances that anyone would wish for and I do believe that I must do something good with it," she said. "That was one of the reasons why I came out publicly to let people know I am dyslexic. It was my decision to do that because it is a problem helped by more people knowing about it."