William praises Greg James as he joins him on cycle for Comic Relief

The Prince of Wales surprised BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James on his tandem bike as he cycles across the UK to raise money for Comic Relief.

William joined him just north of Doncaster and they cycled together through the South Yorkshire countryside as James makes his way from Weymouth to Edinburgh over eight days on a 1,000km challenge.

Joining the broadcaster on the fifth day of his challenge, William said: “What you’ve done is set an example about helping out.

“That’s the thing. It’s volunteering some of your time, putting yourself through a bit of pain at the same time, and supporting others. It’s something we do very well in this country, but we don’t really shout about it enough.”

He added: “This challenge helps everyone see that. And it’s an amazing team effort. Huge well done, Greg.”

On BBC Radio 1 on Tuesday, William could be heard telling James he had raised more than £1 million for the charity, while the radio presenter spoke about riding with the Prince of Wales.

James told William as he finished his time on the bike: “I didn’t kill the future king, William, thank you so much, that was a real, real treat.

“Did you feel safe? You felt secure?”

William confirmed he felt safe on the tandem, and added: “I was worried, there’s a few potholes you hadn’t seen, but apart from that, we were okay, and I can tell you, you’ve raised £1,000,020.”

James said he and his team’s “jaws were on the floor” following the surprise guest, and said he had mentioned the tandem to the prince during a special Radio One show about suicide prevention with William.

He added: “After we recorded it, I said to him, ‘I’ve got this, this little tandem challenge coming up’, and jokingly, I went, ‘get yourself some lycra on, come on the tandem with me’, and he laughed about it, and that was obviously the last I heard.

“And then today, only a couple of people in the touring party knew about it, and suddenly we had to dive off the route, and I was like, ‘guys, what are we doing? I was going really well there, like, I need to get going’.

“And we went down this sort of little dirt track, essentially into a what was a truck stop car park, and Prince William was just standing in the middle of Yorkshire.”

James went on to say the Prince of Wales was not wearing lycra, but was in “sporting attire”, and added that his ride with William felt like a “weird dream”.

He said: “That was the that was the tightest I’ve gripped the handlebars for the whole week. I was like, and then I had to sort of interview him at the same time…

“When he left, I just sort of sat down quietly and just thought, fair play, he did not need to do that, but it’s really amazing that he has sort of put his all into this challenge and also amplified it, because this is going to spread the whole message of this adventure far and wide.”

Earlier this week, the prince sent a letter to James to wish him luck as he embarked on his challenge.