KEY POINTS

  • Prince William will appear in an upcoming episode of Apple Fitness+'s "Time to Walk" series
  • He chose three of his favorite songs and explained why they are important to him
  • He said his children with wife Kate Middleton have "already inherited my family's love of music"

Prince William is opening up about a special childhood memory of his mother Princess Diana and the song she used to play for him and Prince Harry on the way to school.

In an upcoming episode of Apple Fitness+'s "Time to Walk" series, the Duke of Cambridge, 39, shares personal, life-shaping moments in an effort to promote mental and physical wellbeing through walking. He also chooses three of his favorite songs and explains why they are important to him.

According to Prince William, one of those songs was a tune Princess Diana would play in the car for him and his brother Prince Harry to ease their back-to-school anxieties before she dropped them off at boarding school.

"One of the songs I massively remember and has stuck with me all this time, and I still, to this day, still quite enjoy secretly, is Tina Turner's 'The Best,'" Prince William was quoted as saying by The Times U.K. as he takes listeners on a walk through his grandmother Queen Elizabeth's Sandringham Estate. "Because sitting in the backseat, singing away, it felt like a real family moment."

He went on to recall his mother singing "at the top of her voice" as she drove her sons to school and their police escort sometimes singing along as well. According to Prince William, they would sing and listen to music all the way to the gates of their school.

"And, and that's when reality kind of sunk in that you really were going back to school because before that, you're lost in songs. You'll want to play it again just to keep that family moment going," he shared. "When I listen to it now, it takes me back to those car rides and brings back lots of memories of my mother."

Prince William was 15 and his younger brother was 12 when Princess Diana died from the injuries she sustained in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

According to the future king, his children with wife Kate Middleton — Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 6, and Prince Louis, 3 — have "already inherited my family's love of music."

"Most mornings there’s a massive fight between Charlotte and George as to what song is played in the morning," he added.

The royal said one of the songs his children are loving at the moment is Shakira's "Waka Waka." For his third song choice, Prince William selected AC/DC's "Thunderstruck."

The Duke of Cambridge also credited his father Prince Charles for his love of taking walks. He shared that their dad "used to try and force Harry and I out of the house the whole time."

But while he and his brother were not big fans of taking walks at the time, Prince William admitted that as he got older, "you appreciate it a lot more and you see it for what it is."

Apple is set to stream three special audio airings of Prince William's "Time to Walk" episode for free on Apple Music 1, the flagship global radio station on Apple Music, on Monday.

In each of the audio series' episodes, which can last between 25 to 40 minutes, the featured guests take a stroll in meaningful locations and reflect on the things they learned from their memories and experiences through photos, songs and stories.

Prince William approached Apple to take part as he was impressed with "Time to Walk" and how it coincided with his efforts to promote better mental health and wellbeing.

Princess Diana, Prince William and Prince Harry
Princess Diana is pictured with her sons Prince William (left) and Prince Harry on a skiing holiday in Lech, Austria, on March 30, 1993. Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Getty Images