Prince of Wales asks scientist if she can find Loch Ness monster
By Victoria Ward
The Prince of Wales asked a research scientist whether she could find the Loch Ness Monster, insisting that it was what "everyone" wanted to know.
The Prince expressed a previously unknown interest in the existence of the mythical Scottish creature on a visit on Wednesday to NatureMetrics, a DNA research organisation that was a 2024 finalist in the Earthshot Prize he founded.
He appeared fascinated by the organisation's work extracting environmental DNA (eDNA) from water, air or soil samples.
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Prince William joined children squirting water at the media, declaring it was "the best day of my life". Getty
The Prince tried his hand at pond dipping and was delighted to then be given the chance to spray cloudy pond water at the media, declaring: "This is the best day of my life."
As he was shown examples of the company's work, the Prince asked Dr Kat Bruce, its founder: "Everyone will want to know. Does this mean you can find the Loch Ness Monster?"
Dr Bruce told him that despite numerous efforts, only eels had been discovered in the loch.
The Prince of Wales makes a mini extraction of DNA while sat at a work bench in the laboratory of Nature Metrics at their head quarters in Guildford. The Prince was visiting the 2024 Earthshot Prize Finalist, NatureMetrics. Getty
"People have tried," she said. "People came from New Zealand to try that and they took about 500 eDNA samples and no, they said they had found eels.
"It might be a very big eel, but it felt like it was clutching at straws a little bit. All they needed to find was one unidentified piece of eDNA and they could have had a story."
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Dr Bruce admitted that NatureMetrics had been asked to use their technology to find "all sorts" – including the Yeti and Bigfoot, the giant hairy creatures reportedly sighted in the Himalayas and North America respectively.
The Prince visited the company, based in Guildford, Surrey, to learn more about its work analysing environmental data to provide clients with comprehensive maps of life in a forest, lake or the air.
He joined a group of schoolchildren collecting DNA samples to identify the local wildlife and bacteria present in a nearby lake.
Prince William, the Prince of Wales talks with Dr Kat Bruce on January 29. Getty
Asked to expel the excess water, Dr Bruce suggested he shoot from his syringe in the direction of journalists. The Prince took three attempts before joking: "Oh nearly, so nearly… This is the best day of my life – great fun."
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As he was shown a DNA extraction machine, which produces the DNA code sequence that can identify everything from bacteria to a blue whale, he told Dimple Patel, the NatureMetrics chief executive: "So much of what the environmental world needs right now is data.
"And you guys have got the ability to tell us what's there. There's a lot of guesswork, there's a lot of painstaking volunteers and science going into this, but actually what we need is to be able to understand bigger, large-scale projects as to what is in each area."
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