The media-shy lifeguard who rescued a Danish prince from a dangerous Gold Coast rip is overwhelmed at the attention he's getting for simply doing his job.
Nick Malcolm has been hailed a hero for plucking 10-year-old Prince Christian out of the surf at Mermaid Beach last week but is diligently keeping a low profile.
The council lifeguard preferred to let his boss, Gold Coast chief lifeguard Warren Young, explain how Princess Mary's son was saved after being caught out of his depth in a small rip on Thursday.
Mr Young says Crown Prince Frederik was supervising his eldest child swimming between the flags when the drama occurred.
Prince Christian, who Mr Young says is a "good little swimmer", didn't panic.
But Mr Malcolm instinctively paddled out and plucked him from the surf.
"It was a very simple little, short trip in for him and he was fine and his parents thanked the lifeguards as they left the beach. It was all really low key," Mr Young told AAP.
"We do that all the time of course. That's what we do. But in this case it was people from overseas and well-known of course."
Mr Young said the young lifesaver had been completely unaware he had conducted a royal rescue until after the heirs to the Danish throne and Princess Mary left the beach.
"He didn't know who it was until someone said 'Oh that was the royal family from Denmark' and Nick said 'Oh ok'," he said.
But Mr Young said since the routine rescue requests for interviews had poured in and Mr Malcolm's phone had been "going off the hook all the time".
"He's a lifeguard, he's good at rescuing people and he's not used to attention like that because he's just doing the job he does every day," Mr Young said.
The chief lifeguard praised the Danish royals for swimming between the flags and supervising their children in the surf.
He added Mr Malcolm had returned to duty at Mermaid Beach.
"He's back at work and he's doing what he's good at," Mr Young said.
