Prince William issues moving message to ‘life-changing’ cause with special connection to Princess Diana

Prince William had a special message for Swimathon UK, on Saturday, as the charity event, which was launched by his mother, marked their 40 year anniversary.

Taking to the official social media channels of the Prince and Princess of Wales, the future King, who has been an ambassador for Swim England since 2017, honoured the impressive milestone.  

He penned: “Congratulations to @Swimathon_uk on 40 years of bringing people together through swimming. It’s so inspiring to see hundreds of thousands of people taking part while raising millions for life‑changing charities. – W “

In 1988, officially launched the first nationwide Swimathon alongside Olympic gold medalist Duncan Goodhew. At the time, mass running and cycling events like the London Marathon were already popular, but swimming didn’t have a similar platform.

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Diana played a pivotal role in launching the campaign, which has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to take on their own swimming challenge over the last four decades.

Thanks to the momentum she helped build in those early years, Swimathon grew into the world’s largest annual fundraising swim. Since its inception, it has raised over £55 million for various charities, including Marie Curie and Cancer Research UK.

Prince William’s love of swimming

As well as being the water polo captain at his university, St Andrew’s, William has continued his mother’s legacy in promoting the importance of swimming.

In 2024, William launched an initiative through the Royal Foundation, which saw him partner with triple Olympic gold medalist Tom Dean to provide free swimming lessons to 1,000 children from underserved backgrounds to address the decline in swimming proficiency.

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William has also been a patron of the English Schools’ Swimming Association since 2007.

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A family of swimmers

Back in 2019, William said that his family were “a family of swimmers” while presenting Eileen Fenton with an MBE for her lifelong services to swimming.  Eileen was the first woman to finish the Cross-Channel Swimming Race in 1950.

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Talking to the Press Association, Eileen said at the time: “Well, we spoke about swimming. He said that he and his wife make sure the children can swim and they all go and they swim quite well.

“I can remember seeing when the Queen was young and her sister Princess Margaret – we used to see them swimming in pictures. He said the whole family have done it.”