It’s not everyday you get to race with a British royal.
That’s what some 19 paddlers experienced when Britain’s Prince William, who arrived in Singapore yesterday, joined the British Dragons Boat Racing Team for a training session at Marina Reservoir this morning (Nov 6).
The Prince of Wales joined one of two teams racing against each other on the reservoir. Clad in a white polo tee and black cap, he could be seen paddling in the middle section of the boat.
His team won the race shortly after, and he joined them for a chat where they praised him for being a “natural” and talked about how he “didn’t miss a stroke”.
“No, I love sports… I was following the key man in front of me,” he humbly replied, pointing to the captain of his boat Chris Bosher.
Prince William’s boat triumphed over another boat captained by British High Commissioner Kara Owen.
Speaking to the media, Bosher said that His Highness was “super engaged”.
“He actually said, ‘Seriously guys, I want to win this,’ so there was no option really.”
According to the crew members, this wasn’t the Prince’s first time dragon boating as he told them that he had done it before at school and in Canada.
“His Royal Highness was very competitive…I do think he did a lot of homework because he knew that he was part of the engines, which is the critical part of the boat,” said Kirthana Lakshman, the treasurer of the crew.
She also recalled how the Prince said: “Oh, we won by miles” right after the race.
“He also said it’s quite a refreshing break from the normal routine for these sorts of visits. He said he loves to do sporty activities so this was right up his street,” mentioned Bosher, adding how it was a “real honour” for the team to race with His Highness.
“Our team motto is party hard, paddle hard, and I think he thoroughly embraced that.”
Prince William, 41, is in town for the third annual Earthshot Prize ceremony which will take place on Nov 7.
He will be at the Istana today to meet President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
This marks the Prince’s second visit to Singapore, after his 2012 official trip with his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales.
This article was first published on AsiaOne and republished on theAsianparent with permission.