Four-year-old boy gives Prince William avocado to help Kate's morning sickness

Prince William was presented with an unusual gift when he met a four-year-old boy during a tour of Merseyside on Thursday - an avocado.

The green fruit was given to the Duke of Cambridge by Archie Weatherall, whose mother suffers from the same morning sickness as the Duchess.

"I've never been given an avocado before," William said as he thanked the young boy for the gift.

He was also given teddy bears and a bouquet of flowers.

Archie's headteacher Christina Lahive, who had taken students from Riverside Primary School to see the Prince, said Archie and his mother hoped the avocado - which is meant to soothe morning sickness - would help Kate during her pregnancy with her third child.

She suffers with hyperemesis gravidarum, a condition at the extreme end of the pregnancy sickness spectrum.

Earlier in the day, the Prince visited Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool, where he opened the new £35 million Urgent Care and Trauma Centre.

He chatted with hospital and ambulance staff, as well as patients - most of whom asked about his young family.

Speaking to Teresa Jones, 87, in the hospital's frailty assessment unit, he laughed as he described how he and other parents at his son George's school were in "floods of tears" as they dropped their little ones off for the first time.

"The children were all fine," he said.

He also joked how his children boss him around: "George rules the roost and Charlotte isn't far behind. They keep me in check."

He was then taken to see the air ambulance team - and the former helicopter pilot said he felt "nostalgic" for the job he had given up to take on more royal engagements.

Speaking to A and E volunteer John Geddes he said: "I looked longingly at the helicopter there.

"It's nice to see the air ambulance, I feel very nostalgic about it."