Kate and Prince William thought Prince George would "freak out" trying one of their shared hobbies, but he actually loves it.
The Prince and Princess of Wales are known for their love of a huge range of sports and have never been afraid to throw themselves into everything from biking to land yachting during engagements and visits. Behind closed palace doors at Adelaide Cottage, the couple are every bit as active, with Kate once detailing her love for cold water swimming even in the dark and talking about how they love getting outside with their three kids. We know Prince George in particular has inherited his mother’s love of tennis and father’s passion for football and cricket. However, Prince William and Kate have also introduced the future King to a much more unusual hobby that they initially thought would "freak" him out.
The Prince of Wales visited Birtley Community Pool on 3rd October to celebrate its re-opening and he talked about the importance of having access to swimming pools. During this engagement he revealed that Prince George "absolutely loves" scuba diving like his parents.
As reported by The Mirror, Prince William explained, "Catherine and I both adore swimming. George loves scuba diving. He was 10 years old, we took him under, thinking he’d freak out, but he absolutely loved it. It just introduced him to the world of water."
It seems like 11-year-old Prince George took to scuba diving like a duck to water and will likely be continuing with this hobby going forwards. Both Kate and Prince William have passed their advanced scuba diving qualification and it’s possible that given how much Prince George apparently "loves" the sport, he could want to follow in their footsteps.
The Prince and Princess of Wales took to the sea during their Caribbean Tour in 2022 and were videoed scuba diving in Belize. Their love for swimming is clearly shared by their eldest son and likely Princess Charlotte and Louis too, though Prince William didn’t watch any of the Paris Olympics’ swimming in-person for a very poignant reason.
At Birtley Community Pool, the senior royal met with Olympic swimmers Adam Peaty and Tom Dean and Paralympic swimmers Maisie Summers-Newton and Louise Fiddes. Asked by Tom if he managed to go to Paris, Prince William reflected that when Adam tested positive for Covid during the Games it really hit home to him what an impact travelling there could potentially have.
"I was so keen to come but I have to say after reading someone’s interview about Covid, I decided, because my wife was obviously having chemo, that I didn’t want to risk bringing Covid home, so Adam very kindly reminded me that that was still a thing! But we watched the whole thing. We were glued to it every day," he responded.
This was an incredibly personal and heartfelt revelation for Prince William to make and comes a few days after Kate undertook her first public engagement of 2024 and a month after she confirmed she had "completed" cancer treatment. In a sweet video filmed by Will Warr, the Princess shared a poignant message and many of the clips showed her spending precious family time outdoors with Prince George, Charlotte, Louis and Prince William.
"This time has above all reminded William and me to reflect and be grateful for the simple yet important things in life, which so many of us often take for granted. Of simply loving and being loved," she declared.
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