William reveals personal reason behind Olympics absence: ‘Didn’t want risk’

“Didn’t want to risk”: Prince William has shared the personal reason he skipped the Olympics, and it was all about Kate.

IN LONDON

Prince William has revealed the personal reason he skipped the Olympics in Paris this year during a chat with two Olympians.

The Prince of Wales, who was rumoured to be heading to the Games in July to support Team Great Britain, explained to swimmers Tom Dean and Adam Peaty on Thursday that he’d opted out to avoid bringing Covid home to his wife.

The Princess of Wales was undergoing chemotherapy at the time and would have been more vulnerable to infection. Last month, she revealed she had since completed her cancer treatment.

“I was so keen to come but I have to say, after reading someone’s interview about Covid I decided, because my wife was obviously having chemo, that I didn’t want to risk bringing Covid home,” William explained.

“But we watched the whole thing. We were glued to it every day … Catherine and I both adore swimming.”

He added: “George loves scuba diving. He was ten years old, we took him under, thinking he’d freak out, but he absolutely loved it. It’s just introduced him to the world of water.”

Prince William was joined by British swimmer Adam Peaty in a round table discussion during a visit to Birtley Community Pool. Picture: Oli Scarff/Pool/AFP

William was visiting a new community pool in Birtley, in England’s north, to celebrate its reopening with the help of a fundraising campaign which included a hefty contribution from the Royal Foundation.

“We’ve heard stories up and down the country, of pools closing down, so we thought, ‘no, we want to be able to stop this’,” said William.

“We want to replicate this [Birtley’s pool reopening] across the country because swimming is such an important part of life.

“We’re an island nation, we should all have access to learn how to swim.”

William’s pool appearance came just a day after he revealed he’d “lost [his] voice” after a wildly enthusiastic appearance cheering on his beloved football team, Aston Villa, in a historic Champions League game.

William made a very enthusiastic appearance at the Aston Villa game. Picture: Darren Staples /AFP

It was the team’s first home game in European football’s elite competition in more than four decades.

Television footage showed William cheering and fist-pumping at full time, celebrating his team’s win.

Afterwards, the excited royal revealed: “I’ve lost my voice. I can’t quite believe it, 42 years.”

The prince is a huge football fan, and is even a patron of the English Football Association.

Prior to the game, the Prince and Princess of Wales’ official X account posted a message about the “historic” event.

“42 years on, our 1982 European Cup winning legends are here on a historic night for @AVFCOfficial,” it read.