Prince William recently joined the crew of a Royal Navy submarine team in a transatlantic rowing challenge to raise money for mental health. As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, the Royal Navy’s Commander-in-Chief of Submarines, the Prince of Wales, released a YouTube video of his visit to Submarine Service – Loch Dorney in Buckinghamshire. The video shows William participating in a training session on a submarine with members of HMS Audacious, a submarine founded in 2019 as a fundraiser.
HMS Audacious challenged itself to cross the Atlantic Ocean by rowing, and so far, it has raised a total of £110,000. In January 2020, four Royal Navy submariners became the fastest military team ever to cross an ocean, spending 37 days, 6 hours and 40 minutes crossing the North Atlantic to reach Antigua as part of the annual Atlantic Challenge. In the video, William also meets HMS Audacious co-founders Lieutenant Colonel Callum Fraser and Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Mitchell-Heggs, as well as Chief Petty Officer John Norfolk and Lieutenant Isobel Rawlinson.
Together, they discussed the importance of managing mental health and how exercise can be used as a tool to manage it. The crews also shared their transatlantic experiences, the challenges they faced and the impact it had on both their physical and mental health. Back at the boathouse, William heard more from the crew about how they manage their minds, the support they provide to each other as a team, and the work HMS Audacious is doing to raise awareness and combat the stigma associated with talking about mental health.
During Mental Health Awareness Week, Princess William also visited the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust in Bath and the Anna Freud Center in London to highlight the importance of mental health. William emphasized the importance of understanding our support network and supporting one another.