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I’LL NEVER SEE WIDER EYES THAN PRINCE GEORGE’S WHEN I GOT HIM TO EAT A LIVE ANT A SCARY SNACK

FIT FOR A PRINCE

In summer 2019 I was invited by Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge to skipper a yacht in a charity race during the Cowes Week regatta. That’s only nine miles from where my mum lives and where I grew up on the Isle of Wight. Cowes Weekfellinthemiddleof my family holiday, but

Mum is a true monarchist, andthereareasmany photos of royal babies and weddings around her bed as there are of our family.

Mum is now 79 and moves around the village on a mobility scooter. She often texts me after she has taken her scooter out down to the sea to watch the moon on thewater.

She says she likes the night-time as it’s so quiet and she can feel God’s presence. Who am I to argue

with that? As she said to me, I couldn’t refuse my future king: ‘It would be churlish,’ she warned.

After the yacht race, I met

Prince George [left] and, as I stooped down to shake his little hand, I noticed a trail of ants marching across the paving in between us. Prince George stared down at them too, then looked up atme,eyeswidewith trepidation and excitement. I knew that look well. I smiled at him and said, ‘Have you ever eaten an ant?’ He shook his head nervously. ‘You want to ?J ust you and me?’ He looked around, then back at me, and nodded. I grabbed one ant for him and got him to hold it between his fingers, then got one for myself. ‘One, two, three, and in it goes… ready?’ He looked more nervous now. I smiled reassuringly. ‘It’ll be fine. We can do this… OK? One, two, three, here we go!’ I will never tire of that wonderful grimace on people’s faces as they eat something from the survivor menu for the

I GOT HIM TO HOLD THE ANT BETWEEN HIS FINGERS AND SAID, “ONE, TWO, THREE, AND IN IT GOES...”

first time. Whoever they are, it’s always priceless. But I don’t think I will ever see wider eyes than Prince George’s, nor a broader grin.

It was a fun moment that I hope, when he is king one day and I am an old man, he might still remember. After all, who can ever forget eating their first ant?

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