A reluctant hero: the Gold Coast lifeguard who saved a prince
A Gold Coast lifeguard has become a reluctant hero after making headlines around the world for performing a royal rescue.
Nick Malcolm saved the future King of Denmark from a rip at Mermaid Beach before the little prince even knew he was heading for trouble.
On Monday, he was back on the beach, saving lives.
Mr Malcolm, who is more comfortable on the sand than in the spotlight, was most certainly playing down his role in a royal rescue.
When a reporter asked did he “even know it was him when it all happened?” he replied: “nope".
On Thursday, Mr Malcolm plucked Prince Christian, the future king of Denmark, from the surf at Mermaid Beach.
"The lifeguard responded because he was getting out of his depth a little bit and the rip was pretty strong so he only had to paddle ten metres,” said Warren Young, the Gold Coast Chief Lifeguard.
“He said do you want a lift in and the young boy jumped on and away they went."
The prince was in good hands.
"He's probably one of the best board paddlers in the world," said local man, Greg Crispie, speaking of the humble champion who has represented New Zealand at the world titles.
"He doesn't big note or anything he just gets on with the job because it's part of the job of the lifeguards," Mr Crispie said.
Nick Malcolm told colleagues the 10-year-old was a strong swimmer, they were between the flags and his father, Prince Fredrick, was watching.
It is likely he did not know he was in danger.
"We don't let things escalate,” said Mr Young, “that's our skill: to see people in trouble and react before they know they're in trouble and I'm really pleased it worked out that way."
Locals said the stretch of beach where the incident happened is notorious for rips and on the day the young prince was rescued, it was particularly rough.
"I was out there in the morning and there was a lot of big rips pulling people out and we almost got caught in one too, it was very rough," said Catherine Khan who was also on the beach.
The ordeal did not seem to worry the Royals.
Princess Mary, Prince Fredrick and their children were snapped at the same beach the following day.
"They were just walking along the beach and we saw Princess Mary walking back down with the girls and the boys were still swimming in the water with their dad,” said Ms Khan.
Just like any other Aussie family - but now well aware of surf safety.
