Young Prince William asked bodyguard to pose as 'sniper' to scare football rival
29 July 2020, 08:37
Prince William has revealed how he tasked a bodyguard with posing as a sniper to fend off a school football opponent.
The Duke of Cambridge said “everyone wanted to break my legs” on the pitch as a schoolboy, so his royal protection officers came in handy.
His candid comments came in a wide-ranging interview with the Peter Crouch Podcast, where he opened up over beer and curry at Kensington Palace.
During the exchange, recorded before lockdown, the future king said: “A long time ago, I got one of my policemen to take a laser pen out with them. And I got him to red mark, red dot one of the players.
“I was about 15 at the time, I said, ‘see, he’s following you, following you’.”
Former England striker Crouch, replied: “Pretending to have a sniper on him?”
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Prince William, who said he still plays six-a-side football with shin pads after the tough tackles, returned: “Exactly... it put him off for about, you know, ten minutes.”
The duke made a series of embarrassing confessions during the exchange, discussing a stag do in Blackpool, choosing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody as his karaoke anthem and failing to impress Kate Middleton by buying her binoculars for her birthday early on in their relationship.
He also discussed his Heads Up campaign to get football fans to be honest with their emotions. “We all have mental health, and we all have to stay mentally fit," he said.
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“It’s a strength to talk about your mental health, it’s not a weakness. You know, if you’re not feeling well, something’s bothering you, talk about it - it’s not a problem.”
When the curry arrived during the podcast, the duke quipped: “There’s an Uber driver out there on the floor being frisked.” Asked about his go-to flavour, he said: “Chicken masala, love that, a bit of flavour - I’m not a vindaloo man, put it that way.”
The avid Aston Villa fan also revealed he is banned from posting on the verified @KensingtonRoyal Twitter account after he congratulated Liverpool on winning the Champions League semi-final versus Barcelona in May 2019.
As for his own on-pitch performance, he described his defending style as a “fat knacker running around at the back, panting”.
