Emmerdale star Tony Audenshaw met Prince William when he was a child (Image: ITV)
favourite Tony Audenshaw has lifted the lid on the unusual conversation he had with a young . Most fans will recognise the TV star as Bob Hope on the soap opera, who has graced our screens for more than 25 years.
The 60-year-old actor has entertained Brits up and down the country through his fun-loving character, who has had his fair share of affairs in the Yorkshire village. Now, the dad-of-two has lifted the lid on his unusual meeting with the senior royal before he shot to fame. In the book Making Thorpe Park by Chris Atkinson, the TV favourite used to work at the theme park as a stage entertainer under the name Chip.
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The pair shared a cheeky exchange at Thorpe Park (Image: Getty Images)
In the mid-1990s, he met the young royal during a surprise visit where they shared a cheeky exchange. Tony asked: “What’s your name young man?” to which the prince replied: “Future King William”.
The actor cheekily replied: “Funny, that’s my mother’s name” which no doubt brought a smile to his face before enjoying a fun-filled day at the rollercoaster park. It comes after the soap hunk revealed that his co-star “hated him” while they worked together.
During those early days of his career, Tony went under his real name – Tony Hall – and started out at the theme park in Surrey. He even slept in his car outside the park when he couldn’t afford to rent accommodation.
Part of his job was acting as the warm-up for the park’s stunt show to settle the audience in – until he found the “perfect” man to replace him.
But things quickly went downhill, with Tony telling the author: “This guy was absolutely brilliant, a performer like Bill Murray – you just had to look at him and you’d laugh.
“We originally offered him a job as he was ace as an Italian policeman but unbeknownst to me, he hated the act, he hated me, and decided to just talk about Italian politics with people, so he ended up getting sacked!”
Tony hasn’t kept his theme park past a secret. He admitted on Loose Women: “I used to work at Thorpe Park, the theme park, I used to be the Thorpe Park Rangers and do the voices.
“Up north, things are much cheaper. I came down here in the 80s, and it was £70 for a B&B. If I was down for five nights I would sleep in the car because I didn’t have much money coming in.”