Lydia Alty, 21, who attended The Chalfonts Community College in Chalfont St Peter, met the Prince of Wales during a special Earthshot Prize cricket event on The Mall on Tuesday, October 13.

The Buckinghamshire-based reporter was attending the engagement on behalf of international digital news publication The Royal Observer, which she joined as a freelance contributor in September.

Lydia's YouTube channel has more than 350k subscribers (Image: Lydia Alty)

The event saw Prince William take part in a cricket-themed celebration near Buckingham Palace ahead of the 2026 Earthshot Prize Awards, which will be held in Mumbai next month.

For Lydia, who has spent around eight years reporting on the Royal Family, it marked the first time she had met a senior royal in person.

The engagement brought together several famous names from the cricketing world, including England star Joe Root, former India captain Sourav Ganguly and West Indies legend Brian Lara.

Prince William joined the players for an informal cricket match on The Mall, temporarily transforming the famous road leading to Buckingham Palace into a cricket pitch.

The event highlighted the sporting links between Britain and India while helping to raise awareness of the Earthshot Prize, Prince William's environmental initiative aimed at finding solutions to some of the world's biggest challenges.

Lydia, who lives in Buckinghamshire, has built a significant online following through her YouTube channel, Royal Reporter Lydia, which has attracted more than 350,000 subscribers.

Through the channel, she shares coverage of royal engagements, charitable initiatives and major developments involving the monarchy.

Alongside her reporting work, she is studying Health Sciences at The Open University, balancing her academic commitments with an increasingly busy journalism career.

Since joining The Royal Observer, Lydia has begun covering royal engagements in person while producing articles for the publication's international audience.

She works alongside other UK-based royal reporters as part of the outlet's coverage of the Royal Family.

Following Tuesday's event, Lydia published a first-person analysis examining how Prince William used cricket and public interaction to draw attention to the Earthshot Prize.

As part of the engagement, Lydia had the opportunity to meet the future King and pose for a photograph with him, capping off what has been a milestone moment in her reporting career.

The former Chalfonts Community College student began reporting on the Royal Family as a teenager and has since developed a growing reputation in the field.