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“Are you happy?” I ask Jeremy Clarkson. A few times on Clarkson’s Farm, you said were happy. His thick eyebrows seem low, like storm clouds gathering. “I said that in season one, episode one,” he replies. “And I meant it then. Lockdown was a blessed relief. You thought: no one’s inviting me out, I don’t have to go anywhere. Lisa would say, ‘Let’s go on holiday again next weekend.’ And I could say, ‘No! We can’t!’ It was brilliant. We were stuck here. So I was very happy at work then.” Didn’t he say he was happy at another point, while building his pigpen or sowing on his tractor? He looks at me, eyebrows locking, lips pursed in thought. He has perfect recall of the entire Clarkson’s Farm archive. He was pleased when he did those things, but it wasn’t a blanket expression of happiness. Pleased? “Well, what did I do for 25 years? I drove around corners shouting and achieved nothing. Nothing! And then you plant a field of mustard, which I did last year, and some of it grew. Not as much as I’d been hoping, but some. So you have a sense of achievement.” Could we allow for the possibility that he might be contented , then? Clarkson concedes that springtime is nice. “This is going to sound awfully pretentious, but I’ve never noticed the buds coming on the trees before. I spent a good 20 minutes yesterday staring at buds, going, is that too early? Or is that later than normal?” Reasons Jeremy Clarkson might have to be happy: his Amazon Prime show Clarkson’s Farm is the most watched on the streamer in the UK and series four has already been commissioned. So he can sit at his kitchen island, laptop on the polished stone, surrounded by 10-foot windows, and think of ideas for shows, columns, what to have for supper. He can walk over to the fridge and eat the mustard he grew, feeling that sense of achievement you get when you plant something with a tractor, “which is quite complicated”, as opposed to in a vegetable garden. He can have Sunday lunch with beef or lamb from the farm, gravy made with flour from the farm, vegetables from the farm, potatoes and even beer from the farm. This is all, in his words, “properly satisfying”. It’s a very different Clarkson to the one I interviewed eight years ago. Back then, on a spring morning like this one, he’d been sitting at the bottom of a swimming pool in Barbados with a head-crushing hangover and an oxygen tank, wondering what to do with his life. “My luck stopped suddenly,” he said then. But when I suggest the Clarkson before me today is a changed man, happier, maybe one age has mellowed – he’s 64 – or maybe one who has less to be angry about, now that every TV concept he’s had since has been not just gold, but pure 24-carat liquid gold on tap, he bridles. “No, no, no. I’ve got slightly more air in my lungs. But changed, no. People’s perception of me may have changed, but I haven’t.” The Clarkson I met before, the one everyone watched on Top Gear, followed by The Grand Tour, the one who wrote outrageous things (which we will get to), that Clarkson was a caricature, “a comic creation”, he insists. “Everyone assumes the character they see on motoring shows is me, but it’s exaggerated. To think that I was like I was on Top Gear is the same as thinking that Anthony Hopkins is a cannibal.” He feels no pressure to be controversial any more. He can say a line like, “I noticed the buds today” and it can mean that and not have a perverse double meaning. “That’s just me being me, for once. I don’t have to think, ‘Right, I’m going to say something stupidly provocative now.’ That’s relaxing.” Pause. “Also, you,” he means him, “don’t wake up every morning to find you’re in the middle of a tabloid maelstrom for something you’ve said or done.” Can we talk about what he wrote in the Sun in December 2022 about the Duchess of Sussex? “You can try. You won’t get anywhere.” Clarkson said his hatred of Meghan operated on a “cellular level”, that he disliked her more than the serial killer Rose West and fantasised of a day “when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her”. It was written in the controversial era, he says, the era he has just told me is firmly behind him, “So, actually, I’ve already addressed that.” Right, it wasn’t the real you. Is it true the Sun’s editor tried to stop him, but he went over her head? “I won’t say anything. Put me in a half-nelson and I won’t say anything.” Is it right he emailed Harry to apologise, and Harry didn’t email back? “Honestly, I’m not talking about that. There’s enough to be talking about with farming. You can say you tried.” Later, I see a wicked twitch in the mouth of nouveau era Clarkson, when the idea of baiting me becomes irresistible. “I don’t have to be contrary, but I might say something Guardian readers might say, ‘That’s contrary.’ Badgers are a case in point. Badgers are much loved in certain circles. Not here.” Wildlife group activists – “hunt saboteurs” – report him for illegally filling in badger setts which means there’s a policeman in a stab vest in his kitchen on a near weekly basis. “But we haven’t filled in a badger’s sett. There’s no point, because we’ve shot them. So is it contrary to say we’ve shot our badgers? It’s a true fact. So, yeah, it’s difficult to know where contrary starts and ends, really.” When I arrive from London, Clarkson is waiting for me, arm resting on the open window, in the car park of the local train station. It’s a glorious spring morning, sky wide open across the vast Cotswolds landscape. We speed past hedgerows of hawthorn blossom in his old Land Rover, moss-green and muddy in the footwell. He’s smoked so much in this car over the years that even the steering wheel has emphysema. He slows so that I can hear a noise like an expiratory wheeze when he turns it. Does he miss smoking? “No.” He chews nicotine gum constantly. About him are balls of it, carefully removed from his mouth and placed on the closest convenient surface once the active ingredient has been thoroughly drained into his bloodstream, before he pops another from the blister pack. On the gravel outside his house there is topiary of a dog cocking his leg, a white Aston Martin (“a bargain”) and a brand new Land Rover (“Lisa’s”). There’s also a red vintage Massey Ferguson, waxed to a sheen. “Vintage tractors: mark of a hobby farmer,” he says when I stop to admire it (later he’ll say the same of chickens; “hobby farmers” are evidently low in farming hierarchy). The Massey had to have a new engine after his neighbour David Cameron, the David Cameron, Lord, and current foreign secretary, blew it up. “He’s got his own tractor now,” Clarkson says. The Camerons live on the left side of the valley. Across there is Rebekah Brooks, CEO of News UK, queen of the “country supper”. He dots the landscape with his finger naming people. Film people, business people, aristos. Not far are Lord and Lady Bamford, the Conservative party donors who lent Boris Johnson a house when he was ejected. No wonder Chipping Norton has a reputation for being an incestuous nest of media and politics. As I’m saying this, Clarkson spies a lorry coming up the road to his house. “Not another fucking delivery,” he mutters, darkly. “Lisa’s.” In the kitchen he insists I try their water because it tastes delicious. He recently had a glass of tap water in London and mouth-sprayed it across the room in disgust; London is a place he rarely visits. Now, his life has contracted to this small corner of the Cotswolds. He’s been here on and off nearly 30 years (previously with his second wife, Frances Cain, mother of his three grown-up children). Judging by the bored “Mornings” from locals, they’ve just about come to terms with him. Diddly Squat is the 1,000 acre working farm he bought in 2008. It comprises a farm shop run by Lisa, a burger van, 29 goats, 60-70 pigs, seven cows (soon to be 30-40), 40 chickens, 100 sheep and a cat. “Lisa’s cat, not my cat.” He had a restaurant in the lamb barn but the council closed it. Clarkson’s Farm is gentler than The Grand Tour. There’s hugging and crying – I can’t say why because I’ve signed an NDA. There’s a lovers’ tiff between Clarkson and Kaleb Cooper, Clarkson has filed 11 applications since he bought the farm (the latest at Christmas for a large grain store) which lies in an area of outstanding natural beauty – “Because farmers have made it outstanding,” he points out. “Nothing natural out there.” He says the government tells farmers to diversify, to use buildings and broaden businesses. “But if you try, your local authority will say, no, you can’t. We put in for planning permission to turn the lambing barn into a restaurant and all hell broke loose.” In this series, the future of the burger van hangs in the balance. The council have denied a “vendetta” against Clarkson, driven by a few newcomers, but the highs and lows are woven through the show. At one point in 2022, “when it was getting really sticky”, Clarkson remembered he knew Michael Gove – who is in charge of planning – and rang him up. “Put it this way, he was the person in government who I actually had a phone number for. In the first series, the farm turned a profit of £144. He blames uncontrollable outside forces, such as extreme weather: “Somebody’s going to say, ‘You drive cars!’ but you know what I mean.” This year earnings were better, but still not a living wage. Yes, he knows he is not going to starve, but most farmers don’t have TV shows and they are “fucked. And it’s terrifying because they’re going to have to sell. The farms are going to be snapped up by hedge funders or farming conglomerates, who will see hedgerows and woods as annoyances and will bulldoze and turn England into Canada. We will lose the countryside unless we protect farmers.” He highlights the suicide rate in farming, “worse than any other industry”. Low wages combined with the loneliness of 12-14 hours a day in a tractor is lethal, he says. “They’re thinking, ‘I can’t afford the diesel, I can’t afford the seed, and there’s a risk the weather will be all wrong and it’ll be pointless and wasted.’” Proximity to nature has made him far more aware of the climate. He measures rainfall like a meteorologist, so if you say it was a wet weekend, he’ll be able to tell you it was 25mm. He can also tell you that we’ve already had this year’s allocation of rain because it’s always 38in, “give or take”, and this is “a fucking nightmare” because you need varied weather for farming. Where does that put his shrugging disregard for global warming on his motoring shows? “That was part of the caricature,” he says. “It was a joke.” He mocks his own controversial era voice, saying, “Oh, come on.” Then says, “Now you think, ‘Jesus Christ, my neighbours over there, they’ve had to replant everything because it’s all drowned.’ I can’t believe it’s not dominating the news agenda,” he adds sardonically. “Oh no, wait, it is.” It is, except Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have both scrapped their green commitments, I say. “Because they don’t really work and they won’t achieve anything,” he counters. Would he take a role as a climate tsar? “No, no, no.” Why? “I won’t drive a Tesla. I’ve got probably 10 cars, all with V8 engines. I don’t think electric cars solve anything. Science is going to be needed here, not politics. Science will solve it eventually. Always does.” In time? He pouts. “Don’t know. It’s happening really fast. That’s what always surprises me. In the last five years, I’ve noticed a dramatic change here – ”He breaks off and smirks. “I’m like a Guardian reader’s wet dream, aren’t I?” Then continues, “It hasn’t snowed for five years. We probably get a minute of sleet. We used to get snowed in every year.” Does he still hate Greta Thunberg? “Well, I’m not going to be lectured by someone who’s never been to school.” Doesn’t he tell A-level students on X every year that school doesn’t matter? “It doesn’t, but you need to learn something. You could say, The School of Life, but she hasn’t been to that either.” He nips off to speak to someone and Lisa pops her head round the door, hesitant. She’s blonde, freckly, very smiley, very tall. She whispers that she has a present for me: two bottles of scent she’s launching at the farm shop called Wet and Drive. Yes, seriously. She perches, cautious, on the sofa and we talk about kids. When her three and Clarkson’s three get together on holiday, they slag them both off, but in her eyes that’s the mark of a successful blended family. “What are you two talking about?” Clarkson seems cross, coming back in, and it occurs to me that he thinks she’s stealing his interview. He’s tried Ozempic, “Didn’t lose any weight on it. I saw Flavio Briatore the other day. Now, I’m not for a moment suggesting he has been on Ozempic, but holy cow, he looked like Willem Dafoe: unbelievably thin. I’m just getting fatter. I’m surrounded by all this great food. Yesterday morning we had boar bacon. Good God, you can’t not eat it. Then there’s the venison: delicious. Lisa is growing potatoes like crazy.” Surely, he walks it all off outdoors? He pulls a face, puts his hand on his tummy. “I was going for a walk yesterday and had to stop, I was so exhausted. But my lungs are probably cleaner.” What about drinking? “Well, I don’t drink when I’m operating heavy machinery, that’s for sure. While it’s legal to sit in a tractor with a refreshing glass of beer or wine, you wouldn’t be operating any of the stuff on the back if you want both your arms on at the end of the day.” We’re back in the Land Rover on our way to the pub for lunch and halfway down his private road we meet a grey BMW. A man who doesn’t look as if he’s from Amazon leaps out with a package. “My book,” he says, passing it through the window. It’s a self-published work and comes with a note: “From one car enthusiast to another.” Well, he can’t read, Clarkson observes: “The sign on the gate says absolutely no public.” This is a benign ambush compared with the time there was a man sitting in his kitchen. Clarkson assumed he was with the crew and carried on working on his laptop. “He was looking at me writing the voiceover for Clarkson’s Farm and said, ‘Oh, is this the new series?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ I was chatting away, then suddenly went, ‘Who are you?’ And he went, ‘I was just passing.’ I said, ‘No, I’m sorry, you cannot just walk into somebody’s house and pull up a chair.’ He looked a bit baffled. They all do. The other day there was a knock on the door. Four sweet little kids. Their mothers at the gate, going, ‘Go on, kids.’ Like, ‘Walk in.’ I was like, no! You have to be nice to the children, obviously, it’s not their fault. But I did take their mothers to one side and say, ‘You can’t do that.’” Arguably the worst encounter was Lisa coming out of the shower in a towelling robe and bumping into a couple having a nosy around. Their attitude, Clarkson says, was, “He’s on television, he won’t mind.” After the pub, where he has two swift rosés, I ask, because his friends have told me how happy he is with Lisa, if he’d marry again. He says no. He’s been married twice – his first wife, Alex Hall, left him after six months for one of his best friends. Earlier I’d asked if he’d been hurt by anything in his life. “Oh God, countless things. But you’ve got two choices: wallow or stiffen your upper lip and get on with it. I come from a generation where,” he’d inhaled deeply, “we stiffen the upper lip and get on with it.” An element of his “park that and move on” approach is an increasing preoccupation with his own mortality. “I don’t have long,” he says. “I’ve probably only got what, 70,000 hours left, maybe?” After an afternoon tramping round the farm, we kick off our wellies and go in for tea. Clarkson is less fidgety than earlier, but seems a touch riled. His back was hurting by the chickens and goats, and when we went to see the pigs, he looked in real pain. He says he’s fine. He’ll take painkillers. I raise something we discussed years ago: how he was bullied as a boarder at Repton School, routinely beaten over his head and back with a suitcase. Perhaps he’s annoyed he ever mentioned it, or now sees it as the tear-stained soft toy subject of pampered millennials. Either way, he’s dismissive. “I don’t want to belittle bullying which can be dreadful. But it didn’t do me any harm. Actually, I’m glad I was bullied.” Why? “Because I was a bit of a prick. And I wasn’t a prick after I’d been hit over the head with a suitcase. The priggishness was knocked out.” That sounds like you’re saying you asked for it. “I don’t really want to get into bullying because it’s such a bloody awful subject.” We sit at the table and look at the astonishing blue glow of the late afternoon sky. Lisa opens some Diddly Squat crisps for me to try, pours some rosé and asks advice on the copy she’s written for the label on the Diddly Squat honey tequila. She has a 50/50 deal with Clarkson on profits from the Diddly Squat merch, in addition to her TV appearance fees. She makes the point that she needs to think of her retirement because if he were to drop dead, his kids would turf her out. This echoes what he told me – that they have no interest in the farm. “I keep telling them, listen, when I’m dead, I don’t want you to sell it. They look at me like, ‘Are you joking?’” We discuss retirement. The idea makes him shudder, and a retirement “hobby” Of all my questions, his favourite is whether he’s a secret lefty. He chuckles, repeating, “Am I secret lefty?” to himself all day long. In 2020, he said he’d consider voting for Keir Starmer. Listening to my tape back, I hear the glug of wine regularly poured. Lisa tells me they usually get through at least two bottles a night. They recently went to a health retreat in Portugal, she says. “It wasn’t hard not to drink those few days.” But Clarkson was miserable, the juice diet made him ill, and he ended up in hospital with an abscess on his back. She starts to describe lancing it herself, saying it was like the film Alien, and the cyst got baby cysts, “and he got greyer and greyer and almost died”. He grumbles in dissent. “No,” she insists, “you had to have a 40-minute operation.” In general, she doesn’t want to analyse him (or for me to), because if you solve the mystery of why he’s like he is, she argues, you neutralise his genius, which comes from his anguish, she believes. She told another journalist that Clarkson likes watching war films of an evening. “I am pretty much word for word on Where Eagles Dare, so she may have a point,” he says. He’s never watched Bake Off, but “Countryfile used to be jolly good, didn’t it? And then it all just became hijacked.” Who hijacked it? He gives me a look and I sense the presence of controversial era Clarkson. “Well, with the greatest of respect, the Guardian community at the BBC looked at it and thought, ‘No, we can’t have all these country people.’ So nowadays it’s just a smörgåsbord of everything that’s necessary for a modern-day television programme to be commissioned. “I saw one item recently where a woman went with another woman into a wood and was invited to lay down under a tree and it looked awfully soggy, but she lay down and was invited to hum. I couldn’t see what that had to do with Countryfile. I also noticed that Adam Henson [the presenter], who I like very much, said ‘a cow’s gestation period was the same as it is for people’. I thought, ‘You didn’t say people in the first take, did you? You said women . And somebody said, ‘Could you do it again and say people ?’ I’d have told them to fuck off.” He looks at me, turns his palm up to continue the point. “This is Sunday night on BBC. Average age of the audience? 60? Social demographic? ABC1. They don’t want to be told men have babies. Because they’ll go, ‘No they don’t, what are you on about? It’s Countryfile. Stop confusing me. I’m very old and set in my ways.’” He seems relieved to have got this off his chest. I ask how often his children roll their eyes at him for being contrary. He protests that “it’s difficult to know what contrary is. The other day I said something, and they said, ‘You can’t say that!’ I said, ‘Well, you could three weeks ago.’ What was it the other day that I got told I couldn’t say?” Fortunately, he can’t remember. “It’s complicated being not contrary,” he insists, undermining what he told me at the start of the day. “It’s complicated saying anything.”

Some mischievous guys carried the video of two pretty Northern girls eating bread and Fanta drink in a fancy eatery. The video was mildly surprising but very amusing as the girls were taken to the place by a Northern guy who sat opposite them and the trio all ate the combo without a care in the world. Many people wondered if it was the eatery that sold the Agege bread to them or if they brought it along from home. Viewers have diverse comments on this though. Read: @machala_gadgets: No lie who lever chop this combo before 🤣 @iam_faith_01: Life nr hard, na we one over do @sharon_eney: Enjoyment no pass like this o. Na me and my squad be this tomorrow lol @debbie_misola: Osumo burger 🍔😫Ko jina si pizza 🤲😂😂 @adebanjo_adeshina1: Na you Dey carry girl wey like pizza 😂😂 @alexha_inspace: Instead of recording them, you could’ve sent a box of pizza to them or somn. The world needs more kind people who were raised in love and human empathy… not selfish and nonchalant people who would do anything for likes and attention 🫤 @mamush19: 😂😂😂😂😂 na to carry stew. Bread stew n fanta. @_adeshayo: Make they no chop again 🙄🙄🙄? @taikensin: I love this. It’s called living within your means The video was uploaded on Instagram by NaijaEverything, scroll down to watch,

Bukayo Saka has been praised for doing his talking on the pitch against Tottenham after being abused by the home supporters. Saka was one of Arsenal’s star players in their crucial 3-2 win in the north London derby on Sunday afternoon. He assisted Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s own goal with a whipped corner before making it 2-0 with a calm finish on the counter-attack. Kai Havertz headed in Declan Rice’s corner to make it 3-0 before half-time, and although Spurs fought back through Cristian Romero’s goal from David Raya’s mistake and Son Heung-min’s penalty after Rice’s foul on Ben Davies, they couldn’t find an equaliser. Victory ensured Arsenal remain in the Premier League title race with Manchester City and have the bragging rights over Spurs. Having come through the Arsenal academy, Saka understands the importance of the derby more than most. And the 22-year-old also knows how to channel his emotions, as evidenced by his behaviour for the first goal. DON’T SCRAP REPLAYS! Join our petition to keep the magic of the FA Cup alive! As he went over to take the corner in the opposite corner to the Arsenal away fans, Saka was bombarded with abuse. In a video posted on social media, a minority of Tottenham supporters could be heard chanting “you let your country down”, in reference to Saka’s missed penalty for England in the final of Euro 2020. Saka whipped in the corner to the near post and, under pressure from Takehiro Tomiyasu, Hojbjerg accidentally headed it past Guglielmo Vicario to put Arsenal 1-0 up. As his team-mates ran over to celebrate with him, Saka could be seen cupping his ear to the now-quiet Spurs fans by the corner flag. HAVE YOUR SAY! What did you make of Bukayo Saka’s performance and goal celebrations? Comment below. His response earned him lots of praise on social media. “The best form of revenge is success,” wrote one fan on Twitter. “That’s the best way to respond,” one fan added, with another concluding: “That’s karma.” Saka’s response went down well on Reddit too. “You really can’t beat the cupped ear, top-tier stuff,” one Arsenal fan wrote. “The irony is that they’ve let themselves down,” another wrote. “Man they sure did go quiet quickly,” another joked. Saka had another reason to celebrate 12 minutes later when he latched onto Havertz’s pass, turned inside Davies and found the bottom corner with his left foot. This time he cupped both of his ears as he sprinted away to celebrate in front of the stunned home supporters. Arsenal scored all three of their goals in the first half at the opposite end to their supporters, but having held out during the nervy final moments, they got to celebrate with them at the full-time whistle. “Very nice moment,” Saka told Sky Sports. “We know what it means for the fans and for us. We’re delighted. It means everything. We know this is a massive win for us, we’ve got three to go and we’re gonna give it everything and see where it leaves us.” Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.

Prince William revealed Princess Charlotte’s favourite joke this morning during a surprise school visit on a day of engagements in the West Midlands. The future King dropped in on Freddie Hadley, 12, St Michael’s Church of England High School in Rowley Regis, Sandwell, after the youngster wrote to the Prince of Wales last year inviting him to see their mental health initiatives. During the visit, the Prince joined Freddie and his classmates for a segment on the school’s radio station, where he was asked to share a ‘dad joke’. He said: ‘I’m kind of trying to channel Jack Whitehall, because most of his jokes are pretty dad-like.’ The royal then told a knock-knock joke about ‘Interrupting Cow’ instead, saying it’s currently Princess Charlotte’s favourite, adding: ‘That’s one I hear a lot at home at the moment.’ Prince William revealed Princess Charlotte ‘s favourite joke this morning during a surprise school visit on a day of engagements in the West Midlands where he joined Freddie Hadley (centre) on the school’s radio station Prince William speaks with students during a visit to St. Michael’s Church of England High School in Rowley Regis today William is snapped shaking hands with 12-year-old Freddie Hadley, who made the initial invitation to visit the school During his visit, William met representatives of Student Voice and had conversations with students about mental health Inside the school William was taken to meet the school’s ‘wellbeing champions’ and handed a cup of ‘positivity-tea’ In a punchline some may have predicted, as the others around the table tried to ask: ‘Interrupting Cow who?’ the royal let out an abrupt ‘moo’. As some laughed and some groaned at the quip, William insisted it was the best joke he could think of that was ‘clean’ and ‘broadcast-able’. The Prince of Wales also thanked the station and the school for welcoming him – despite the fact he supports Aston Villa. Freddie Hadley, 12, posted his letter on X, formerly Twitter, on World Mental Health Day last October telling the royal about the brilliant work he and his friends at St Michael’s Church of England High School in Rowley Regis, Sandwell, were doing. To his delight, William personally replied, writing: ‘Good afternoon Freddie, I’m so sorry Catherine and I can’t be with you and the rest of the students at St Michael’s today. ‘Tackling mental health challenges and stigmas head on is so important, please keep up this important work. W’ Freddie’s letter clearly had a deeply moving effect on the prince, who asked his team to secretly arrange a visit to the school next time he was planning public engagements in the West Midlands. And today he shocked the schoolboy and his classmates by arriving unannounced as the first of three engagements in the region. It is the first time that William has undertaken what is known as a ‘royal away day’ since news of the Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnosis and treatment was publicly announced. Freddie had no idea that the Prince was going to visit – instead he and his fellow pupils were told to prepare for a VIP guest….The Lord Lieutenant of the West Midlands. But when he saw William get out of the car, his face broke into a broad grin. The Prince of Wales decided to tell what he said was Princess Charlotte’s favourite joke at the moment During his visit William joined a session with the Matrix Project which was set up to shine a spotlight on male mental health The Prince of Wales surprised schoolboy Freddie Hadley, 12, as he arrived at his school in the West Midlands today Prince William speaks to school children during his visit to Rowley Regis today William spoke to children about mental health initiatives during his visit today The Prince of Wales has arrived at a school in the West Midlands to surprise a schoolboy who previously wrote to him During the visit, William revealed that when he began undertaking royal work, he never initially intended to look into mental health as his most championed cause The Prince of Wales looks deep in thought as he speaks with students using the ‘Talking Tables’ initiative today Prince William waves to crowds of royal fans as he visits a school in Sandwell today ‘So this is the young lad who started it all off,’ William said. ‘Very nice to see you, thank you for your letter.’ ‘You’re very welcome,’ replied Freddie. ‘Did you think you would get a response, like that?’ asked William. ‘Yes I did,’ Freddie said. ‘Oh you did, that’s confidence, ‘ laughed William. ‘Why did you decide to write to me?’ Freddie explained that he had been very impressed with the royal’s work on mental health issues. READ MORE: How Prince Louis is the spitting image of his father Prince William The prince apologised for not being able to come when he was first invited on world Mental Health Day but said he hope he had made up for it. Inside the building William told one member of staff: ‘ Lots of people write letters but Freddie’s was a really well written letter. I promised I would come. ‘ He added: ‘I am sorry Catherine can’t be here as well. She would have loved to [have come].’ A clip filmed outside the school showed William and Freddie deep in conversation as the future King spoke to the schoolboy about his letter. The Prince of Wales congratulated Freddie on his initiative and told him: ‘Well done you, I’m here now.’ As the others in attendance chucked, he added: ‘Your letter worked. I’m sorry I couldn’t come to you in October.’ Later in the visit, the Prince joined Freddie and his classmates for a segment on the school’s radio station, where he was asked to share a ‘dad joke’. The father-of-three went on to share a quip that he claimed is Princess Charlotte’s favourite. He said: ‘I’m kind of trying to channel Jack Whitehall, because most of his jokes are pretty dad-like.’ The Prince of Wales also thanked the station and the school for welcoming him – despite the fact he supports Aston Villa. During the same conversation, William revealed that when he began undertaking royal work, he never initially intended to look into mental health as his most championed cause. William’s a hit with the kids! As he said goodbye to pupils at the school, he chatted to each of them and shook hands Pupils eagerly lined up to shake hands with the Prince of Wales before he left St Michael’s William said goodbye to the pupils of St Michael’s before heading to his second engagement of the day It appeared William was a hit with the schoolchildren as he gave them a double wave upon leaving The royal, 41, said goodbye to the schoolchildren after his brief visit as he headed to his other engagements A royal wave goodbye: William bid farewell to the children before getting in the car to head off for his next engagement The Prince of Wales shook hands with Freddie’s peers and other pupils at St Michael’s, who all seemed excited to see him The royal seemed to enjoy more jokes with the pupils as he shook hands before saying goodbye Some of the children who had queued up to meet Prince William appeared bashful after meeting him A sign reading: ‘Am I manly enough’ was up in one of the rooms at the school, suggesting the mental health initiative tackles men’s wellbeing In keeping with the theme of the day of preserving good mental health, William sipped on a brew in a mug which read: ‘Positivi-Tea’ He said: ‘So it started really when I was doing lots of charitable work. I never set out to look into mental health, particularly men’s mental health. I was interested in homelessness, I was interested in depression and addiction…all these separate areas and hadn’t really put them all together as a jigsaw. What’s the bigger piece here. What are we trying to fix? ‘My passion has now moved into male mental health because of the stats you mentioned at the beginning. The suicide rate in young men is just terrifying and I wanted to do something about it. READ MORE: Princess Charlotte’s adorable talent that makes her mother Kate ‘very happy’ ‘I realised that you have got to get more upstream. The further you can come into preventing it the more you will have success. If we just deal with curing it all the time, we aren’t actually going to get ahead of it. ‘From there we met a lot of people in the sector and realising how terrified a lot of people were about talking about it. This is unacceptable, we have got to be able to talk about it.’ William continued: ‘what was quite interesting was when we first started talking about mental health, not one celebrity wanted to talk about it. Not one. And for several years we couldn’t anyone who wanted to join us on the campaign. ‘Now you can’t keep celebrities quiet talking about mental health. My next challenge is to find the next thing that society doesn’t want to talk about. ‘There are a lot of people who are quite frankly afraid to talk about what are very normal feelings. ‘ Afterwards William joined a large groups of children for individual ‘talk tables’, including one where they were asked to place phrases associated with different emotions. ‘It’s amazing how close anxiety and fear are,’ he remarked. ‘It’s quite telling’. St. Michael’s employs a whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing and in May 2022 achieved a gold standard award by the Carnegie Centre of Excellent for Mental Health in Schools. William greets children at St Michael’s Church of England High School today The Prince of Wales apologised that his wife Kate could not attend the visit with him Little Freddie, pictured, wrote to the Prince of Wales last year informing him about a mental health initiative he and his friends have set up at school Freddie and William appeared instantly engaged in conversation after meeting, as the Prince has arrived to learn more about Freddie’s work in mental health William looked sharp in a black suit with a black skinny tie as he arrived at the school as the first of three engagements in the West Midlands today Hundreds of students at St. Michael’s Church of England High School eagerly await the Prince Prince William looked sharp in a dark suit with a blue checked shirt and a skinny black tie as he smiled upon arrival Freddie Hadley, 12, wrote to the Prince of Wales last year telling him about the initiative he and his peers have set up to help pupils manage their mental health After initially sending his apologies for not being able to visit Freddie and his classmates, William gave St Michael’s school a wave today ahead of his arrival The school launched ‘Student Voice’ in 2012, consisting of up to 100 students who meet at lunchtimes, after school, in the evenings and during school periods to develop initiatives ranging from fundraising to mental health, including working with elderly members of the community. It’s team of enthusiastic student Wellbeing Ambassadors also help design and implement a range of initiatives to support students. Inside the school William was taken to meet the school’s ‘wellbeing champions’ and handed a cup of ‘positivity-tea’. He cupped his hands around it and said he was glad it was still hot. ‘I hope you’re not disappointed,’ he told the pupils who had only just discovered he was the VIP guest. ‘It could have gone either way.’ The children aged between 12 and 15 talked him through the incredible work the school has being doing around mental health, including their 21 days of kindness in order to form a a habit. As they went round and round the table William grinned in admiration, remarking: ‘Wow, well done everyone. And you can do it all so fast. These are all things you guys have been doing? You’ve been busy. ‘What’s been the biggest challenge? ‘ The pupils told him they had been determined to foster a sense of positivity. ‘We try to overcome the bumps in the road,’ the Prince was told. ‘And what does mental health mean to you guys?’ William asked. ‘Does it get a good reaction now? Do people still feel a bit shy? ‘ ‘It’s the feeling you have about yourself,’ another pupil told him, ‘You chose your own label.’ After his visit to the school, William travelled to an employment centre in Birmingham The Prince of Wales opened a new employment skills training and community outreach centre for Betel UK, a charity for people affected by homelessness and addiction The royal chatted to staff at the new employment centre after visiting a school Homelessness is a cause that is very important to William, since from from a young age During his visit, William met representatives of Student Voice and joined a session with the Matrix Project, which was set up to shine a spotlight on male mental health and sees boys aged 11-14 meet weekly to develop ideas and projects to tackle mental health challenges. The group launched its #AmIManlyEnough campaign last year to tackle the stigma aroundmale mental health and encourage men and boys to communicate more about their feelings. He also joined a workshop with a larger group of students who were discussing a range of issues related to mental health and wellbeing, including designing their own calm kits and their dream wellbeing hub. ‘Did the statistics around male suicide scare you guys into doing something?’ William asked the group. He was told that the boys felt there should be as much focus on make mental health as there is on women and girls. ‘Why do you think men find it so difficult to talk about how they feel?’ Asked the Prince. Freddie explained that many still felt it wasn’t ‘a masculine thing to do’ to talk about their feelings. ‘They are told to suck it up,’ he said . The prince was shown pink cups bearing the logo ‘Am I Manly Enough?’ which teachers at the school are encouraged to use in class to foster discussion of the issue and challenge the traditional ‘blue is for boys’ stereotype. ‘Do you feel there is enough space in schools to talk about these things?’ He asked. He was told that St Michael’s is ‘a very special’ place. He was also shown their knitted mascot, Terry the turtle, named because it swims against the tide and has a shall to hide in. ‘They also live for a very long time,’ remarked the prince. William’s added that it was important to be ‘light’ sometimes when talking about mental health. ‘It’s important to be light and a have a laugh about it. Sharing stuff can sometimes be quite scary and having a laugh can ease the burden,’ he said. In his letter to William last year Freddie neatly wrote that he and his friends had set up #AMIMANLYENOUGH? with the aim of tackling the stigma that ‘girls cry and boys get mad’. ‘Through our work we discovered that suicide is the biggest killer in young males and this won’t change unless people start the conversation,’ he wrote, with extraordinary maturity. ‘Our passion for mental health has given us opportunities to organise and lead community events, present at national conferences, take part in radio interviews and even gain celebrity endorsement.’ William smiles as he brushes a Guinea Pig at the Woodgate Valley Urban Farm today in Birmingham Animal lover William is snapped stroking a chicken at a farm in Birmingham today The visit to Woodgate Valley Urban Farm is the third location on his day of royal visits to the area The Prince of Wales watches a volunteer feeding the sheep at the farm today He invited the heir to the throne to join the ‘soft launch’ of their campaign on World Mental Health Day as their VIP guest. And while William had to regretfully decline on that occasion, he made his mind up to go and see their work in action at some point in the near future. On leaving the school he earned a rock-star farewell, being screamed at and waved to by hundreds of children, both inside and outside the building, shaking as many hands as he could. Afterwards Freddie said he had been prompted to write to William because ‘male mental health is such a massive topic’. He said: ‘Men don’t open up as much about their feelings as females and we wanted to make a positive impact. Prince William does a lot of things around male mental health and we wanted to get my letter out there and see if he recognised us, which he did. It’s been such a great day. ‘I had no idea he was coming. When he was coming round the corner I thought ‘that doesn’t look like the Lord Lieutenant’ and when he got out I thought ‘that’s Prince William!’ ‘I was so shocked. It was crazy. I was not expecting him to walk down the drive. It means to me that he has recognised what we are doing. I can’t get my words out. He didn’t really tell a dad joke but it was a knock knock joke, so that was ok and it was funny. ‘Mental health is such a special topic in our school. It was really special to have him recognise us.’ Kerry Whitehouse, senior mental health lead at the school, said it had been hard to keep the secret of William’s visit, added it: ‘It was tough not to tell them how special the visitor was. ‘ The city farm is dedicated to supporting children and young people struggling to access education and those experiencing mental health challenges William chats to a girl as they brush their Guinea Pigs at the farm today The future King interacted with staff and volunteers at the farm today as he gains an insight into the work they do William sits on a table and chats to both volunteers and children at the farm today Head Christina Handy-Rivett added of the prince’s initial decision to receive a personal tweet from William: ‘It was remarkable, jaw-dropping. We didn’t anticipate what would come from Freddie’s ‘X’ post. ‘ She explained that Freddie subsequently received a letter from William, which left him trembling but couldn’t believe it when a visit was the proposed. ‘As he saw His Royal Highness walk out of the car he turned and said ‘wait a minute, that’s Prince William’. It was wonderful to see his joy,’ she said. ‘William was so amazing with the students. He settled their nerves so quickly though. He is very authentic. You can see that in him. And he really listened to them. It’s a valuable skill. ‘I might have a little cry later on. We are all very emotional. The reaction from the students was beautiful. With everything he is going through personally at the moment, to make that time for us, was wonderful .’ The Prince of Wales then left the school and travelled to an employment centre in Birmingham. He opened a new job skills training and community outreach centre for Betel UK, a charity for people affected by homelessness and addiction at their headquarters in Birmingham. Tackling homelessness is very important to William and has been since he was a young teenager. According to journalist Richard Kay, who was friends with Princess Diana, the royal was 13 when he said: ‘If I become King, I will let the homeless live in our palaces.’ The future King then also stopped by Woodgate Valley Urban Farm, a city farm dedicated to supporting children and young people struggling to access education and those experiencing mental health challenges. At the farm he brushed Guinea Pigs and chickens as he interacted with staff and volunteers to find out the work they do for the local community. The prince also revealed that he always gets lumbered with cleaning out his children’s guinea pigs cages at home because they forget to do it.