While he’s usually the one being interviewed, Prince William recently showed off his interviewer skills in an effort to highlight the importance of ocean preservation efforts.
In a nearly four and-a-half minute on-camera interview shared on Saturday, June 7, the future king interviewed renowned conservationist Sir David Attenborough on the importance of ocean conservation.
“When you first went diving, we knew so little about the underwater world,” Prince William, 42, asked Attenborough, 99, who has spent over 70 years working in both television and environmental advocacy. “Is that not fascinating for you, to be one of the first people to be able to talk about that and see it?”
“Oh, yes,” Attenborough responded, before explaining to the royal that “underwater camera persons are fantastic.”
“They’re people who are actually happier under water, I think, then on land,” he continued.
Attenborough, who is best known for his award-winning BBC documentaries, including Life on Earth, Frozen Planet, and the Blue Planet series, is preparing to release another documentary titled Ocean.
“From what you’ve obviously seen over the years, what states would you say the oceans are in right now?” Prince William went on to ask the documentarian.
“The awful thing is that it’s hidden from you and from me and most people,” Attenborough responded. “The thing which I am appalled by when I first saw [footage] taken for this film is what we have done to the deep ocean floor is just unspeakably awful. I mean, if you did anything remotely like it on land everybody would be up in arms.”
He continued, “If this film does anything, if it just shifts public awareness it will be very, very important. And I really hope that people who see it will recognize that something must be done before we destroy this great treasure.”
Climate change and conservation efforts have been important to the royal, who has teamed up with other conservationists, including Robert Irwin, to draw attention to various environmental causes. In May, Irwin, 21, opened up to Us Weekly about what it was like to work with Prince William on efforts related to climate change.
“I think Prince William has been such an amazing person to work with, and there is such an incredible synergy between what he does and who he is and who we are,” Irwin exclusively told Us at the time. “It’s all about conservation. I think it’s wonderful that someone so influential — that has such a fantastic platform — is using that to really better our environment. He is a true environmental hero, and so working with him has been a great privilege.”
