Prince Harry is believed to be teaching his son Prince Archie how to surf after a photograph of the two at a surf school was posted on social media.
The picture, which was later deleted, showed the 40-year-old Duke of Sussex wearing a black wetsuit alongside his five-year-old child on a jet ski in California.
The photo was uploaded as part of an Instagram reel by professional surfer Raimana Van Bastolaer and taken at surfing star Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch in Lemoore.
But the image was later removed from the reel, which the surf coach captioned: ‘Don’t hate but be happy & keep smiling. Brother HARRY, Let’s go for 2025!’
Other photos which remained in the reel included a selection of Harry riding a wave, one of him smiling with his board and another posing with Van Bastolaer.
The picture of the Duke and Archie was published despite Harry and Meghan Markle having rarely exposed their son and three-year-old daughter Princess Lilibet to the limelight.
It comes just over a fortnight after Harry and his wife shared a rare photo of their two children as part of a series of images for their official Christmas card.
The Duke and Duchess were shown in the outdoors about to hug Archie and Lilibet as their son and daughter run into their arms, in the card released on December 16.
But the children’s faces were not shown in the image as Lilibet approached Harry while Archie sprinted to Meghan.
Since moving to California, Harry is thought to have become friends with Van Bastolaer and Meghan is believed to have bought him surf lessons for his 36th birthday.
Van Bastolaer, who is known for his big wave surfing exploits in Tahiti, also posted footage of the Duke surfing in October last year.
Captioning that post, Van Bastolaer said: ‘In Tahiti, we still call you Prince Harry. But at Surf Ranch, it’s my brother. It was an honour to have you surf with me and Kelly Slater’.
Beginning by riding alongside Van Bastolaer’s jet ski, Harry pulls away as the wave begins to appear, before expertly leaping atop his board.
The Duke then finds his balance, and under the instruction of Van Bastolaer, adeptly negotiates the surging wave for almost one minute.
The wave is the central feature of Slater’s surf ranch and is a man-made, first of its kind, 6ft barrelling wave that lasts for up to 2,300ft.
Dubbed the best artificial wave in the world, it is still the only one to receive World Surf League accreditation, meaning it is fit to stage elite level competitions.