When passing through the British countryside, one can always expect to see something noteworthy. Glorious fields. Untouched nature. The future King on the backseat of a tandem bike. OK, so one of those might seem like the odd one out, but it was a reality yesterday, when Prince William surprised BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James with a leg on his charity bike ride.
Prince William hopped on the backseat of Greg’s tandem bike and pedalled away for around 30 minutes, with the two cycling through the South Yorkshire countryside, starting just outside Doncaster. The radio host was joined by Prince William on day five of his eight-day mission.
This involves him cycling 1000km through England, Wales and Scotland to reach his final destination of Edinburgh.
True to form, as well as walking the walk when it comes to giving back, Prince William also found time to showcase his sense of humour, telling confused passers-by that Greg James was actually "hallucinating". After getting used to the surprise himself, Greg was trying to alert people that his cycling mate was none other than the future King. Surprisingly, many found that hard to believe...
Realising onlookers weren't quite sure if Greg was telling the truth, Prince William joked, "It's a lookalike! He's hallucinating! They just think you've lost it".
After the surprise, Greg spoke to fellow Radio 1 hosts Sam MacGregor and Danni Diston, telling them, "I've got so many flies in my mouth because I've been cycling with my mouth wide open. All our jaws are on the floor from how mad that all was."
Commenting on his relief that he didn’t accidentally "kill the future King", Greg added, "That's the tightest I've grabbed the handlebars for the whole week".
He also praised William for going the extra mile to help with the charity and raising awareness of the challenge. Greg shared, "When he left, I just sat down quietly and thought, 'Fair play, he did not need to do that.' I'd joked when I recorded a recent radio show with him that he was very welcome to turn up and do a stint on the tandem but I didn't think he'd actually call my bluff."
"Completely bizarre but so kind of him to spend some time amplifying our message of making sure we look after the most vulnerable people in society," he continued.
Between their cardio and cracking jokes with one another, the Prince of Wales also found time to share words of encouragement and gratitude to Greg.
He told him, "What you’ve done is set an example about helping out. That’s the thing. It’s volunteering some of your time, putting yourself through a bit of pain at the same time, and supporting others.
"It’s something we do very well in this country, but we don’t really shout about it enough. This challenge helps everyone see that. And it’s an amazing team effort. Huge well done, Greg."
The Prince of Wales also revealed that Greg had already exceeded raising £1million for the charity and fans have absolutely gone mad for the unlikeliest bike ride.
One said on social media, "He’s up for everything! I can’t wait for William to be our King", whilst another wrote, "Honestly get that man on the throne!! How proud the whole of the UK will be to have him as our King!"
