Greg James makes an emotional call to his mother, telling her to “tell Dad that Prince William was on the back of the bike and I didn’t k.i.l.l the future King,” after admitting he has been “masking his emotions” over his father’s stroke

Speaking on Radio 1, he said: “Someone said to me, ‘just be honest with how you’re feeling?’ and I went ‘I have been’ and I will continue to be, but how I’ve been feeling is also, you can sort of mask that a little bit, with lots of the joy that I’m seeing.”

He went on: “And that is overriding, at the moment all of that is overriding how horrible I actually feel, about not only my body, but also how sad I’ve been the last few weeks.”

Greg added: “I’m feeling like, I actually want to just sit in a room, and cry for a bit, but because of how magnificent everyone’s being, and how brilliant the support has been and how amazing the donations have been, I’m not sitting in a room and crying.”

He then made a heartbreaking confession about how much he wishes his parents could have been there with him. “I really miss my Dad, and I really miss my Mum, and I really wanted to be with them this week. But I wanted to be here even more,” he said.

Prince William’s surprise appearance became one of the standout moments of Greg’s challenge. The royal joined him for a 30-minute stretch through the South Yorkshire countryside and also revealed that Greg had already raised more than £1 million for Comic Relief.

During the ride, the pair shared a series of funny exchanges that instantly delighted fans. As they cycled past a group of children, Greg shouted: “Hi guys! It’s Prince William.”

When the crowd failed to react, Greg joked: “They don’t believe it.”

William quickly joined in, replying: “It’s a lookalike! They just think you’ve lost it. He’s hallucinating!”

Greg then asked him: “Are you having a nice time so far?” and William replied: “I’m having a great time.”

When Greg followed up with, “Okay, do you feel safe?”, the prince answered: “I do. I think you’re in control.”

The future King also praised Greg for pushing through such an intense challenge for charity, telling him: “What you’ve done is set an example about helping out. That’s the thing. It’s volunteering some of your time, putting yourself through a bit of pain at the same time, and supporting others.”

He continued: “It’s something we do very well in this country, but we don’t really shout about it enough. This challenge helps everyone see that. And it’s an amazing team effort. Huge well done, Greg.”