Prince William claims solo outing is 'best day of his life' - watch fun video
The Prince of Wales was in fits of giggles and declared it the "best day" of his life as he squirted pond water at journalists on his latest royal outing.
It was all in the name of science as Prince William, 42, joined school children collecting DNA samples for NatureMetrics, an Earthshot Prize finalist.
As the company's founder Dr Kat Bruce suggested the Prince and the youngsters aim at the media as a joke and William cheekily responded: "Great idea."
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The group pushed the plungers on the syringes, topped with a filter to collect the environmental DNA, but the sprays of water fell short, with the Prince quipping: "Oh nearly, so nearly" adding: "This is the best day of my life – great fun."
Watch the light-hearted moment here…
Two further attempts failed and William then donned a white coat and gloves as was given a tour of NatureMetrics' nearby labs in Guildford.
Staff said they had to get in an extra-long coat to take account of his height and there was a peg with his name on to hang it on.
"Don't get too technical or I won't understand anything you are saying," the Prince joked.
He helped with the first steps of extracting DNA from a sample, before being shown the rest of the process including a DNA extraction machine that produces the DNA code sequence that allows the team to identify everything from bacteria to a blue whale.
He also watched other scientists undertaking the final piece of sequencing, remarking: "You are doing eight at a time. They only trusted me with one!"
William told NatureMetrics' chief executive officer Dimple Patel: "So much of what the environmental world needs right now is data. This is fantastic you guys have got this ability to be able to tell us what’s really there.
"There's a lot of guesswork, there's a lot of painstaking volunteers and science going into this, but actually what we need is to be able to understand bigger, large-scale projects as to what is in each area."
After being shown a screen with example of some of the work the firm has carried out at sites around the world, an intrigued William then asked Dr Bruce: "Everyone will want to know. Can you find the Loch Ness Monster?"
Dr Bruce replied: "Do you know, people have tried. People came from New Zealand to try that and they took about 500 eDNA samples and no. They said they had found eels. It might be a very big eel, but it felt like it was clutching at straws a little bit. All they needed to find was one unidentified piece of eDNA and they could have had a story. But we have been asked to try and find Yeti and Big Foot and all sorts."
Speaking afterwards Dr Bruce, an expert in molecular ecology, said of the royal: "It was so wonderful to have someone with such genuine interest and knowledge about the environment and biodiversity. He was definitely one of our most engaged and informed guests."
