Wills a 'DIY disaster'
2006-05-21 14:21
London - Britain's Prince William admitted he is disastrous at DIY and lousy in the kitchen, in a rare interview with his father Prince Charles and brother Harry to be broadcast on Sunday.
The prince's do-it-yourself attempts to put up shelving or install a washing machine usually ended in calamity, he told Britain's ITV television.
"My DIY skills are appalling, they really are, hence why my father won't let me anywhere near the house to do anything," William admitted in an interview alongside his brother Prince Harry, 21, and their father Prince Charles, the heir to the throne.
"At university I had to put up a few shelves and put in washing machines and stuff like that when I was up there, but most of the time things fell down and broke," William said.
"But it is really important skills to learn," he said. "You forget all the essentials you need for life... and I really think they're worthwhile.
"Just don't look at me as an example though," he warned.
The army officer cadet admitted his culinary exploits were similarly dismal.
"I'm hopeless," he said. "I've done a bit at university. I had to feed my flatmates which was quite hard work because a couple of them ate quite a lot."
William told of the perks of his new role as president of the Football Association (FA), the sport's governing body in England.
"Oh it's a great job yes, loads of free tickets and lots of things," said the avid fan of Aston Villa Football Club.
"It's a real privilege actually to be president of the FA. They're doing an awful lot of good for the young and for... community-based programmes."
The three princes also discussed their love of playing polo. William and Harry teased Charles, 57, about his decision to retire from the sport.
William said: "He decided that the pressure of playing with his two sons is too much, we're too good for him now."
"I always thought I'd give up when they both started to overtake me in handicap, which they very nearly are," Charles said.
"It's awful having to give up because I've played it for 40 years and broken various parts of my anatomy, but they are very competitive," he added.
Charles recounted how he swallowed his tongue and was hospitalised after falling off his mount during a match in 2001, but that Harry thought he was sleeping.
Harry "told me later on that he thought when I was lying on the ground, that he thought 'Oh, Papa's just snoring' and there I was busily swallowing my tongue, thought I'd be dying," Charles said.
William confirmed that tempers sometimes frayed when the three princes played together.
"We work very well as a team because we're all thinking quite alike, but when someone does something wrong you get the two very stern faces looking at you and then you get the bollocking afterwards," William said.
The interview, the first to be broadcast featuring all three princes, marked the 30th anniversary of The Prince's Trust, a charity set up by Charles to help young people.
- SAPA