Prince William is full of praise for Kevin Sinfield in interview for new BBC Breakfast documentary.
Prince William is interviewed by Sally Nugent for BBC doc Thank You Sir Kev(Image: @BBCOne)
Prince William has praised Sir Kevin Sinfield for his “quiet leadership” skills and believes he unites people together like glue during his fundraising.
The Prince of Wales described newly knighted Sir Kevin as “gold dust” in an new interview and said his knighthood was “probably the easiest decision that anyone’s ever had to make”. The comments come in a new BBC Breakfast documentary which tells the inspiring story of the former Rugby League player who has raised millions of pounds for motor neurone disease (MND) charities, in support of his teammate Rob Burrow who died in 2024. Speaking to BBC Breakfast host Sally Nugent, Prince William was full of praise for the former rugby league star and his inspiring story.
He said of Sir Kevin: “I think he leads from the heart which he doesn’t need to be the loudest in the room shouting about it, it’s very quiet leadership, but it’s very deep leadership, it’s really meaningful, it’s not about him, it’s about the cause and what he’s there to support.
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“I think he’s got a way of turning his words into actions which I think is really important, and I think he’s built of quiet steel that is also vulnerable but also normal and he’s not afraid to show all that and I think that’s really important rather than showing this sort of tough guy exterior that we know maybe is not as deep as it could go.”
He added: “He is a machine so incredibly in awe of all that he’s done but from a sort of human level he’s a top bloke, really nice guy, good, honest kind of decent northerner and I love that about Kevin that there is no ego with him.
“You couldn’t find a better bloke to lead a campaign around MND that his friend Rob has had to live with for so many years, so I think you put all that in a pot and it’s hard to beat him.”
William first heard about Sir Kevin when his fundraising story with pal Rob made headline news and was regularly featured on BBC Breakfast.
In the new doc Thank You Sir Kev, it also covers Kevin’s ultramarathon exploits, childhood and career, when he played with Rob for Leeds and England, before raising £13million for MND causes.
When asked about what we can all learn from Sir Kevin, Prince William said: “It really is deep caring… that lack of ego is really important in a world that everyone wants to show how amazing they all are, I think Kevin does it very quietly, very subtly and just doesn’t want to be the centre of attention but ultimately has a huge impact.
“I think that’s a really important lesson for the world to realise that you don’t have to be all socially media everywhere, and loud and whatever, there’s a lot of other ways you can show leadership that still delivers the important things we care about.”
He added: “What I see the most is his ability to bring people together and be that glue, I liken it to the fabric of communities… so up and down the country you can see the communities that are happiest, the communities that are getting stuff done.
“Communities who really are an actual community, people often say they are a community, whether they are is another matter, but someone like Kevin and there are other people out there, Kevin is very special but we have a lot of special people in this country.
“What Kevin does is he can bind and glue communities together by being that leader so he takes lot of responsibility on him he takes other people’s worries, concerns, anxieties and he owns it, that’s a weight for him, but he would be the last person to tell you that’s a problem, he would see it as a privilege and he’ll carry communities and he will make sure people are as happy as they can be and the more Kev’s we have in this country the better.”
“It’s these subtle social skills that I think get lost quite a lot of the time in the noisy world we live in.” The interview between Sally and Prince William took place at Windsor at the end of September. As well as featuring in the documentary, an extended version of the interview aired on BBC Breakfast this morning.
In the interview Prince William says of knighting Sir Kevin: “Probably the easiest decision that anyone’s ever had to make, I think frankly he should have been Sir Kevin years ago, so I’m very pleased personally that he’s got this accolade. Never has it been more deserving or thoroughly appreciated by a large community who know what Kevin is like and what he can do.”
* Thank You Sir Kev is available on BBC iPlayer from 6am today and on BBC One at 8pm tonight.
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