Prince Henrik hides the first royal geocache near his French home for eager treasure hunters to find

The queen’s husband, Prince Henrik, may be getting on in years, but that hasn’t stopped him getting hooked on the latest hi-tech treasure hunt craze sweeping the world.

Geocaching involves enthusiasts hiding ‘treasure’ all over the world and then leaving clues on the geocache websites to help other hunters track it down with the aid of GPS.

The hobby has spread rapidly since its inception in 2000 and in Denmark alone, there are more than 11,000 geocaches hidden around the country.

A chance encounter between the prince and a Jyllands-Posten journalist on a geocache hunt sparked royal interest in the hobby. The journalist gave the prince a tin of kippers, suggesting he bury it as his first ‘treasure’.

Kippers were the first ever Danish geocache back in 2000 and with that in mind the 75-year-old prince decided to take the legendary item and create the world’s first royal geocache near his Chateau de Cayx estate in France.

In addition to the kippers, the prince has hidden a laminated photo of himself, pens, matches, a key ring and bottle opener all bearing the royal monogram. There is also a first finder’s certificate hidden in a plastic lunch box in the vineyards of the French chateau.

Geocaches typically contain little trinkets that the finder replaces with something of equal value so that there is something for the next person to find. They also contain a logbook so all finders can record their visit.

The coordinates and hints to the royal geocache location have been uploaded to the geocaching.com website today.

A spokesman for the royal household has confirmed the authenticity of the prince’s involvement.

‘The prince thinks it is really exciting and wants to take on the challenge,’ said Kenneth Lysell Madsen, master of the royal household.