Oarsome! William's team paddles to victory through crocodile-infested waters

PRINCE William snapped to it as he won a dragon boat contest in crocodile-infested waters in Singapore yesterday.

-  Richard Palmer

His team beat a rival boat captained by British High Commissioner Kara Owen in a race along the Marina Reservoir amid sweltering 31C heat and 75 per cent humidity.

The heir to the throne paddled furiously with his team along the stretch - where a 10ft saltwater crocodile was found three weeks ago and 6ft monitor lizards abound.

All sides denied the result was a fix, although William aroused suspicions by saying: "We won, so I'll take that. The High Commissioner planned it very well."

Terrified

But Ms Owen insisted she was paddling as fast as she could, adding: "I tried my very hardest to make sure he didn't win."

The Prince was praised as a "natural" by some of his teammates, who included one of his Scotland Yard bodyguards.

But he admitted: "I was terrified if I got it wrong I'd clash with the whole side and everyone would start going out of sync.

All I cared about is, 'Don't get it wrong"." William, who is on a four-day visit to Singapore to attend events for his £50million Earthshot Prize and the United for Wildlife conservation group global summit, took part in the race to celebrate the sport's popularity in the country.