Reports are emerging from Australia that Prince Christian – who as the ten-year-old eldest son of Prince Frederik and Princess Mary is second in line to the Danish throne – nearly died on Thursday December 17 after encountering difficulties while swimming in the sea off the Gold Coast.

7 News Queensland spoke to lifeguard supervisor Stuart Keay who confirmed that one of his charges, Nick Malcolm, recognised the prince had been knocked off his feet by a strong current and was being carried away to sea.

Malcolm paddled his board over to the prince and picked him up.

“We got him before it got too serious, but he wouldn’t have come back in,” Keay told the broadcaster.

Mary’s important role?
Nevertheless, the Brisbane Times appeared to suggest that his mother had played an important role in ensuring his safety.

“His Australian-born mother had clearly heeded the message of her childhood, luckily for her first-born,” it reported. “She, her husband and her four children were all swimming between the flags.”

Malcolm was later personally thanked by Prince Frederik for his rescue.

The incident took place just off Mermaid Beach.