The Prince of Wales joins a Royal Navy crew for a rowing trip as he kicks off Mental Health Awareness Week with a new video.
The six-minute clip – which was uploaded to the Prince and Princess of Wales’ YouTube account today – begins with the royal arriving at Dorney Lake in Windsor to meet members of HMS Ordaius.
The campaign was established in 2019 to provide mental health support to submariners.
The father of three, 40, met Lieutenant Commander Hugo Mitchell-Heggs and his team, who are crossing the Atlantic in their new eco-friendly boat this December.
The group included marine engineer and submariner Izzy Rawlinson, who next year would lead the first female team to cross the Atlantic.
The Prince of Wales, 40, met with HMS Ordeus crew members. The campaign was established in 2019 to provide mental health support to submariners
William was also introduced to Marine Engineer John Norfolk and Lieutenant Callum Fraser, who had joined Hugo sailing across the Atlantic four years earlier.
After being introduced to the group, William happily boards the new boat for a boat ride along the lake.
However, the shy royal joked that he would not be able to keep up with the pros and might accidentally ‘slap’ with one of them.
Although Hugo assures William that the boat must stay upright at all times, William laughs: ‘If we sink, we are well going!’
Before setting foot in the boat, William asks the crew what they eat on their long voyages at sea.
Looking back on his Atlantic voyage, Hugo said: ‘We took 50 odd days [of food] – Which means we can actually catch Haribos and Percy the pigs.’
William then proceeded to joke that the team’s snack supply had probably collapsed by ‘two days’.
Most recently, the team raced against 42 other teams to cross the Atlantic – where they faced 40-foot waves and tropical storms.
Prince William talks with Lieutenant Commander Hugo Mitchell-Heggs outside Eton College Rowing Club
IMAGE: The Prince of Wales has thrown himself into rowing but joked he may have ‘slapped paddle’ by mistake with one of the pros
Sailing with them, William asked: ‘Was it the physical toll or the mental toll? What was the most difficult task for you guys?’
Callum replied: ‘The physical toll is one of those things where every day everything gets a little harder.
‘But what we really have to work on is how we work together as a team and that’s the mental challenge.’
Hugo then added: ‘[It’s] Understanding and showing sympathy for each other’s weaknesses.
‘That’s how we overcame real psychological barriers and were really, really open with our feelings. I think it was something we were really good at.
As a result of their various challenges, Hugo’s team has helped raise over £600,000 for military charities and organizations that support veterans and their families.
Pictured: Lieutenant Callum Fraser (left), Marine Engineer John Norfolk (centre) and Submarine Izzy Rawlinson (right)
Pictured: The new eco-friendly boat the team will use to compete in competitions to raise money for military charities and organizations that support veterans and their families
Late in the day after their excursion, the group returned to the Rowing Center at Eton College – where William asked the rowers how they coped mentally with the stress of their jobs.
Hugo said: ‘We focus too much on our physical health but really, recognizing that psychological health is the same.
‘Everyone has anxiety to varying degrees. If you get on with it and have things in your back pocket to address those things one by one, you’re in a better position. [show] Your ability
Showing his understanding of their demanding professions, William added: ‘The submarine service, you have to have a certain mindset to do your job.
‘You’ve been in a metal tube for months. Many of the pleasures of your life are far away – you have no sunshine or fresh air.’
Hugo said: ‘You go from a civilian into this whole new world where you’re dealing with shipmates and a whole new dynamic.’
Speaking from her own experience, Shahi said: ‘It’s important to understand our support network because many people don’t have a support network.
‘I think in the military, we are very good at building close relationships and feel that the only way we can get out of this is to help each other.’
On Friday, the Prince and Princess of Wales published a short trailer for a video marking Mental Health Awareness Week.
The short 15-second clip showed a modest glimpse of the Prince of Wales’ mental health charity HMS Ordaeus with a four-man Royal Navy Submariners crew preparing to push off from a calm-looking riverbank.
The caption accompanying the cameo clip read: ‘A special video for #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek coming this Sunday’ along with a pair of eyes and a boat emoji.
Royal Navy Submariners from HMS Ordainous row the oceans to raise money for mental health charity projects. Posting shortly after, the charity wrote on Twitter, ‘It’s an honor to be a part of this. #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek.
In the video, the Prince is seen sitting on a vessel’s oar with his hands capped and wearing blue rowing gear.
Rowing royal: Prince William is seen in short teaser clip in four-person boat as he joins mental health charity HMS Ordeus for a trip on the river
Royal does not speak, but a fellow crew member’s voice can be heard saying: ‘Let go of the lines, push when you’re ready.’
The clip opens with a view of a calm river, as the ship is prepared to cast out, the ropes untied and the oars dipped.
It’s the latest in a high-production clip shared by Kensington Palace; Following the coronation, the Prince and Princess of Wales released a surprise behind-the-scenes video of the theme at the historic event.
Video released by Wales’ official YouTube account shows William and Kate meeting a crowd of royal fans on the Mall outside Buckingham Palace the evening before the coronation.
It also showed the family getting ready at their Kensington Palace apartment – No. 1A. Prince William, 40, and Kate, 41, stay with their children Prince George, nine, Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, at the private home during their stay in London.
The Prince and Princess of Wales have shown their commitment to mental health causes this week: Kate Middleton, 41, was all smiles as she greeted royal fans at Anna Freud’s London base on Thursday.
Mental Health Awareness Week began yesterday, with the Prince and Princess of Wales showing their support for the awareness week.
The Princess of Wales said she believes feelings should not be ‘over-medicalised’, particularly among young people who have a tendency to ‘latch onto labels of any kind’.
Yesterday, the Princess of Wales spoke to young people about their concerns during a visit to the Anna Freud Center last week.
Kate, 41, was all smiles after arriving at Anna Freud’s London base on Thursday, where she took part in a series of roundtable discussions about the mental health challenges facing young people today.
She told officers: ‘In the caveman age our world was much smaller so we were able to deal with that fight or flight response…’
By comparison, she suggested that modern society and the influence of social media have had a notable impact on mental health and wellbeing.
Instead he said that children should be encouraged to learn mental health skills that will help them not only in school but in all aspects of their lives.
Wearing a £3,000 green Susanna tidress with Alessandra Rich two-tone heels and accessory earrings estimated to cost around £8, the princess spent time at the center with a group of secondary school children who were taking part in interactive activities who figure out how to deal with their own anxious feelings.
As he talked about his work on mental health, he said: ‘The more you learn, the more you read, the more interesting perspective you get… It’s great to be up to date.’
She went on: ‘I’ve learned a lot. And then you go into the fields of philosophy as well as psychology and neuroscience.’
The princess said there was “so much synergy” between conversations on all aspects of mental health and that no individual element could be considered in isolation.
She then joined a roundtable discussion featuring experts in the field, who talked about how to better support the mental health of future generations.