Father inspired my love for the great outdoors

LIKE many children, William says he and his brother Prince Harry tried to fend off their father’s efforts to cajole them into the great outdoors – but that he now shares Prince Charles’s appreciation of the countryside.

‘When I grew up, my father used to love his walking, and still to this day loves his walking and used to try to force Harry and me out of the house,’ he says. ‘And we weren’t really having any of it. Now, as you get older, you appreciate it a lot more.’

But William hasn’t abandoned all his youthful habits – he likes a lie-in. ‘I’m not an early riser, if I can help it,’ he admits.

‘I quite like watching nature put itself to bed in the evening and the sounds and smells that come with it.

‘It’s quite therapeutic. It stimulates all your senses, and so you really feel like you’re in a calmer space, that you can process stuff and think, and I come home feeling better and feeling more relaxed.’