Paul Chuckle hopes he gets to question Prince William
WHEN Paul Chuckle walks through the gates of Buckingham Palace to receive his MBE later this year, there is one question he admits he would quite like to ask.
Not about ceremony or protocol details, but whether the heir to the throne ever grew up watching ChuckleVision!
The BBC children’s series ran for 292 episodes over 22 years, between 1987 and 2009, becoming a staple viewing experience for millions of youngsters aged roughly five to 15 and embedding itself firmly in British popular culture.
Prince William, born in 1982, would have been five when the programme began and a teenager during its most popular years, placing him squarely within the generation that grew up alongside the show at home.
Whether watching television at Kensington Palace in London or at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, where he spent much of his childhood, William was growing up at a time when ChuckleVision was part of mainstream family viewing across the country.
Speaking to Express.co.uk after being named in the New Year’s Honours List, the Rotherham entertainer said he would like to be greeted by a fresh face when he attends his investiture ceremony in the coming months, with the date and venue yet to be confirmed.
“Hopefully I’ll meet a new Royal,” he said. “I’ve already met Prince Charles, who is now King Charles, when I did the Royal Command Performance.
"And Princess Anne is another one and Princess Margaret.
“I’d like to meet William, that would be lovely,” he added.
“William would be at an age where he would have grown up watching ChuckleVision. I don’t know whether he did, but I’d ask him!”