Has Kate Middleton finally got Prince William to try her 'crazy' hobby? Future King admits he's 'tempted' to take the plunge
Just a few years ago we heard the Princess talk about loving this activity even in terrible conditions but her husband wasn't convinced
The Prince and Princess of Wales are one of those couples with so many shared interests that it's often easier to keep track of hobbies they *don't* share a passion for. We know Prince William considers himself to be terrible in the kitchen and "awful" at art compared to Kate who's talented at both, but now it sounds like she's changed his mind about something else.
In a section called 'A few of my favourite things' in his guest edited issue of Country Life, the future King has included swimming trunks. They really stand out amongst the others, which range from the family's pet spaniels, Orla and Otto, to a practical flat cap. And he's not thinking about doing a few lengths in the local pool either…
"I'd love us to have rivers that are clean enough for all of us to swim in," he writes. "There's something about the sound of running water that I find impossible to resist. If I come across a beautiful stretch of river on a walk, I'm always tempted to jump in for a quick dip in the cold water, so it pays to be prepared."
This is rather surprising given that just three years ago we heard the Princess of Wales saying he thinks she's "crazy" for embracing cold water swimming like she has. The couple appeared on a special royal edition of Mike Tindall's The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast and Kate declared that she loves "swimming wherever [she] can".
"Cold swimming - the colder, the better," she went on. "I absolutely love it. Slightly to the point where William's [saying] 'You're crazy' and it's dark and it's raining. I will go and seek out cold water. I love it."
Experts have often talked about the benefits of cold water swimming and maybe she meant that Prince William wasn't convinced by the idea of doing it in the rain. However, beside the flat cap pick in Country Life he said he's "always enjoyed being outside when the weather turns wild" so possibly he just wasn't a fan in general.
Fast forward to 2026 and he's "always tempted" to have a dip in a river and wants to be "prepared". Whether he actually does jump in a lot is another matter but William is at least open to the idea. It helps that he's a strong swimmer, having played water polo when he was at Eton and then at the University of St Andrews.
Not that he'll need these skills for swimming in rivers or streams, but he and the Princess of Wales are also qualified divers and Prince George is already following in their fin-steps.
In 2024 William visited a community swimming pool and explained that he and Kate thought their eldest son might "freak out" the first time he tried the hobby.
"Catherine and I both adore swimming. George loves scuba diving," he said, as per The Mirror. "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."
All the Wales children are incredibly sporty and since Prince William and Kate are all about doing things together as a family, Charlotte and Louis will surely get to give diving a try too.
