The Prince of Wales has said awarding a knighthood to rugby league star Sir Kevin Sinfield “was probably the easiest decision anyone’s ever had to make”.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Prince William described his personal admiration for Sir Kevin, who recently completed seven ultramarathons in seven days.

The challenge was his latest endurance effort to raise money for motor neurone disease (MND) charities. It followed the death of his friend and former team-mate, Rob Burrow, from the condition in 2024.

“I think frankly he should have been Sir Kevin years ago,” said Prince William.

“What Kevin does, is he can bind and glue communities together by being that leader. The more Kevs we have in this country the better.”

Royal visit to Wakefield

The Prince and Princess of Wales were in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, last month to see the seven ultramarathon challenge for themselves. William and Catherine surprised Sir Kevin as he completed the third of the marathons.

“I don’t know how he keeps going, I’m worried about his knees, I’m worried about his hips. The guy is just a machine,” Prince William told the BBC.

“He’s a top bloke, really nice guy, good, honest, kind, decent northerner and I love that about Kevin, that there is no ego with him. He is what you get.”

Support for the MND community

Rob Burrow’s MND diagnosis turned a relationship between team-mates into a public campaign to raise awareness. Sir Kevin supported Rob and his family through the difficult progression of the disease and became an important fundraiser for the MND community.

“That lack of ego is really important in a world that everyone wants to show how amazing they all are… Kevin does it very quietly, very subtly,” the prince said.

Prince William also spoke on BBC Breakfast about writing to Rob Burrow’s wife, Lindsey, and their children, Macy, Maya and Jackson, after Rob’s death. He said he was in awe of how Lindsey had coped with such quiet dignity.

He wrote the letter as a member of the Royal Family, but also as someone who understood the anguish of losing a parent.

“Everyone grieves differently and every circumstance is different, so you need to take your time over it,” he said. “It’s always better to say something around grief than it is to ignore it.”

Rob Burrow Centre

In November last year, Prince William officially opened the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds, alongside the Burrow family. The facility is dedicated to medical and holistic patient care as well as research into the condition.

“It was very emotional actually and, for me, doing personal, emotional work is more fulfilling,” the prince said.

“For Lindsey, Rob and the family to ask me to come up and open the centre was not only very personally rewarding for me but really important that that circle was closed, and I really wanted to honour that.”

Tributes to other figures

In the interview, the prince also praised the courage and impact of Scottish rugby union player Doddie Weir, who did much to raise awareness of MND before his death from the disease in 2022.

He also praised his aunt, the Princess Royal, Anne, who has supported the MND community for many years.

“He’s a very kind, caring, human being but he’s still a lunatic. How he manages all these things I don’t know. He’s gold dust, he really is… if you could bottle it up and sell it, it would be priceless.”