{"id":165803,"date":"2025-06-07T20:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T20:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/165803\/"},"modified":"2025-06-07T20:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T20:01:10","slug":"david-attenborough-tells-prince-william-he-nearly-drowned-while-scuba-diving-in-1950s-david-attenborough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/165803\/","title":{"rendered":"David Attenborough tells Prince William he nearly drowned while scuba-diving in 1950s | David Attenborough"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir David Attenborough<\/a> almost drowned when testing a scuba-diving helmet for his 1957 dive on the Great Barrier Reef, the broadcasting veteran has revealed in a discussion with Prince William.<\/p>\n

Discussing his latest documentary, Ocean, the pioneering film-maker described the incident to the Prince of Wales.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s certainly a strange thing to do,\u201d said the 99-year-old Attenborough<\/a>, as he nostalgically fitted an original version of Jacques-Yves Cousteau\u2019s open-circuit scuba helmet over his head.<\/p>\n

\"PrincePrince William sits down with Sir David Attenborough to discuss Ocean Protection \u2013 video<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t do that, David,\u201d laughed the prince. \u201cYou won\u2019t get it off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Successfully wriggling out of the helmet, Attenborough reminisced. \u201cWhen I put mine on for the first time, I suddenly felt water coming around [my chin and up over my mouth]\u201d he said. \u201cI thought, \u2018This can\u2019t be right\u2019. And by the time [the water rose to my nose], I thought, \u2018I\u2019m sure this is not right\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then, of course, if you got this thing screwed on top of you, you can\u2019t breathe. You can\u2019t even make yourself heard, you know: \u2018Get it off me!\u2019\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Attenborough related how a testy director of operations refused to believe the equipment had a fault. \u201cSo he put it on and I\u2019m happy to say he went under the water and came up even quicker than I did (\u201cBlimey\u201d, interjected the prince), because there was actually a fault.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ocean, Attenborough\u2019s new National Geographic documentary special, confronts the enormity of the loss in ocean life. It will become available for streaming globally on Saturday 8 June, World Ocean\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

In the film with the prince, publicising the documentary\u2019s release, Sir David describes how the world knew very little about the intricacies of life in our oceans when he took his first dive.<\/p>\n

Attenborough spoke of how the experience was a \u201csensory overload\u201d. But now, he said, the same dive in Australia\u2019s shallow warm water cay is likely to look disastrously worse: globally, corals have suffered tremendous loss as a result of human-caused ocean warming<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDave, from what you\u2019ve obviously seen over the years, what states would you say the oceans were in right now?\u201d asked the prince in the film, which will shortly be posted on Kensington Palace social media platforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe awful thing is that it\u2019s hidden from you and from me and most people,\u201d replied Attenborough. \u201cThe thing which I was appalled by when I first saw the shots taken for this film, is that what we have done to the deep ocean floor is just unspeakably awful.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI mean, if you did anything remotely like it on land, everybody would be up in arms,\u201d he said. \u201cIf this film does anything \u2013 if it just shifts public awareness \u2013 it\u2019ll be very, very important, and I only hope that people who see it will recognise that something must be done before we destroy this great treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attenborough said he hoped that by confronting the destruction of the ocean, the next generation will be inspired to save it.<\/p>\n

He told the prince: \u201cWhat is heartening, really, is that we have the entr\u00e9e to people\u2019s front rooms \u2013 whole families, sitting at home in comfort \u2013 can actually suddenly see this coming up. Films like this can expose something new.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prince William agreed that we must remain optimistic about ocean recovery: it is vital, he said, for stabilising the climate and securing a healthier future for us all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wonder whether this should be a moment for optimistic excitement for the next generation,\u201d he asked Attenborough. \u201cThey can become bigger explorers and find more data. The next 50 years will be incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attenborough agreed. \u201cYes. Very much so.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir David Attenborough almost drowned when testing a scuba-diving helmet for his 1957 dive on the Great Barrier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[7709,7714,7713,533,2832,532,2831,7710,519,7711,7712],"class_list":{"0":"post-165803","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-british-royal-family","9":"tag-catherine","10":"tag-catherine-middleton","11":"tag-kate-middleton","12":"tag-prince-of-wales","13":"tag-prince-william","14":"tag-princess-of-wales","15":"tag-royal-families","16":"tag-royal-family","17":"tag-uk-royal-family","18":"tag-william"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114643867048117912","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}