Swedish royal Prince Carl Philip showed off his daredevil side when he scurried to the top of the mast of an Isle of Wight-based Volvo Ocean Race boat.

Sweden’s third in the line to the throne scaled the 30-metre mast of 65ft raceboat Dongfeng, run by Cowes company Offshore Challenges, then took a ‘selfie’, inset.

“That was a privilege and a unique experience to do this,” he said afterwards.

“I felt very safe up there, it was good, really nice.”

Prince Carl, 35, performed the stunt while the team were training for the start of the 40,000 mile round the world race which begins from Alicante on Saturday.