Prince William and Kate Middleton are taking over the airwaves and presenting a BBC special about young people and their mental health.
The Royal couple took to the radio yesterday evening where Kate announced that BBC’s “Newsbeat will sound slightly different” today.
William then said: “As part of World Mental Health Day, Katherine and I have recorded a special programme taking over the radio to talk about the importance of mental health.
“You could be living one life one minute and something massively changes and you realise you don’t necessarily have the tools or the experience to be able to tackle that."
Kate later on also told listeners that she would “love to know” how they look after their own mental health, and invited a guest to discuss how they looked after themselves.
“There’s no right or wrong, that’s the thing as well. Different things will work for different people,” she said.
The cause has long been close to the royal couple's heart and they have been working for years to tackle issues and stigma around mental health.
In the surprise announcement the Prince and Princess of Wales said they would lead discussions on the importance of mental health for the programme that will be broadcast at 12:45pm today on BBC Radio One, BBC Radio One Extra and Asian Network.
William and Kate recorded the show at the Newsbeat studio yesterday and will chat to advocates and experts about young people and their mental health.
They spoke to Newsbeat presenter Pria Rai, Dr Abigail Miranda, an educational and child psychologist working in early years, and Antonio Ferreira, a mental health activist who was diagnosed with undifferentiated schizophrenia and emotionally unstable personality disorder as a teenager.
They also spoke to Ben Cowley, a registered music therapist and assistant mental health adviser for the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and Emma Hardwell, a youth participation officer at The Mix, which offers mental health support to those under the age of 25.
Ms Rai said: “People not only switch us on to get the news, but to share openly and frankly how they are feeling.
“That’s humbling, to be a trusted part of people’s lives enough that they can send us a text about feeling lonely, or having lost a loved one.
“We have total strangers speaking to each other on the radio who soon feel like familiar friends and that’s a really important, uplifting part of what we do.”
On the visit, Aled Haydn Jones, head of BBC Radio One, said: “What was discussed today will resonate with so many of our listeners and it means so much to us that we can all work together to help tackle the stigma around this issue.”
Danielle Dwyer, editor of BBC Radio One’s Newsbeat, added: “Talking about mental wellbeing without stigma or judgement is so key and it’s brilliant to welcome the Prince and Princess of Wales to our reporting team for the day, to join us in such a vital conversation.”
The show will also be broadcast again on Radio One and Radio One Extra again at 5.45pm and will be available on BBC Sounds from 2pm on Tuesday.
