Prince William assists Big Manny with science experiment

Prince William described himself as a “beautiful assistant” as he helped social media science star Big Manny with an experiment.

The pair were working together to extract DNA - genetic information inside cells - from a strawberry.

In a video, Prince William was seen holding a sandwich bag for Big Manny to place and then squash the strawberry, explaining that it will "release all the cell content" and "break the cell wall".

Writing on a post on Instagram, Big Manny explained that he and the prince had been visiting the company NatureMetrics, where the unexpected duo had been finding out how they extract "environmental DNA from soil, rivers and the air to learn more about the world".

Later in the video Prince William held a science beaker for Big Manny to add ingredients for the solution used for DNA extraction.

The solution included salt and washing up liquid, which the prince enthusiastically mixed together before tipping it into the sandwich bag containing the strawberry.

Big Manny explained that strawberries are great for DNA extraction experiments because they are "octoploid", that means they have eight of each type of chromosome in each cell.

Chromosomes are tiny, threadlike structures that carry information inside most cells of living things.

Strawberries also have more DNA than other fruit, so are perfect for experiments of this kind.