An Olympic royal met a real royal on Sunday.
At the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year awards in Birmingham, England, Prince William was on hand to present Olympic gold-medal swimmer Michael Phelps with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Upon hitting the stage, Prince William told Phelps — who became the greatest Olympian of all time when he brought his gold medal total to 23 during the Rio Olympics — that he is “one of the greatest sporting icons the world has ever had.”
“Your 23 gold medals, never mind all the other colors, pales into sheer superhuman history,” William said. “You should be so proud of your achievements, and it will be many, many years — if ever — before anyone stands here again and calls you the greatest athlete in history, so many many congratulations and hopefully your retirement gives somebody else the chance now.”
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But before that onstage moment, William and the Under Armour-sponsored Phelps — along with Phelps’ new wife, Nicole — got to meet backstage. Phelps told William that their trip to London was the first time they’ve left their 7-month-old baby Boomer at home.
“Oh, I see why the retirement is looming,” William said, after asking how old Boomer is. The royal father of two joked, “You’ll never leave the house again!”
Watch the full video below.
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