0 this interview. thank you for letting me do it. my heart goes out to you. it's a heartbreaking story. >> there's hope. no matter how desperate the despair, there is hope and not to give up. >> thank you both very much indeed. rick warren and kay warren. a baby is born into royalty. >> a good pair of lungs. >> and into a legacy of caring deeply about the animals and people of africa. >> i think it's got a very special connection. >> in a rare exclusive, prince william's first interview since the birth of his son, sharing with me, max foster, his thoughts on fatherhood. >> just a very different emotional experience. >> personal memories of africa. >> it felt appropriate getting engaged in africa. >> an africa he hopes will be preserved by a group of selfless, brave, committed individuals. they soar above the earth. they track the animals down below. and sometimes they weep. >> sorry. >> they're fighting for the prince's passion. a new father's battle to save africa's most vulnerable. >> her looks, thankfully. >> it wasn't long ago that the world's most famous new father was just a baby himself. caught in the glare of the world's spotlight. and as william grew into a boy, the spotlight became more relentless, even as he lived through the death of his mother. small wonder then that as a young man he found peace, not in his own kingdom, but in the furthest corners of africa. >> for me, it's a sense of freedom, being out in the middle of nowhere in africa, just seeing the beauty of nature and the natural world is just phenomenal. it's fantastic. >> when the young prince arrived in africa for the first time, the splendor of an african sunset, the deep quiet of the bush, and the majesty of the animals captured his heart. >> i had no real idea that i would feel that way. i never realized how much emotionally and sort of mentally it would affect me. it's absolutely magical. i remember seeing an elephant. it was just the most incredible sight. just wow. when you actually get on the ground and see it and feel it and you can put a hand on this thing going up and down as it's breathing is quite something. it's hard to describe in words. >> many of the wild creatures william has come to know and love are fighting for their survival. pursued by poachers and prey for hunters. but now he's waging a fight of his own to save africa's most endangered animals. >> you want to stand up for what is very vulnerable and what needs protecting. >> and those same feelings have become more intense for william since the birth of his son, prince george. >> i think the last few weeks for me have been just a very different emotional experience. something i never thought i would feel myself. and i find, again it's only been a short period, but a lot of things affect me differently now. >> it's a daunting task when you realize you want to pass on things to your son and things like that and suddenly you start thinking there are things you want to safeguard for the future. i always believed it but to feel it quite well is coming through quite powerfully now. >> fatherhood has given prince william a chance to remind the world that he is his own man. casting aside the normal structures of life as a royal. >> i had strong bouts about what i believe in. >> when you came with the car seat, fathers around the world will be cursing you for doing it so easily. >> it wasn't my first time. i had practiced with that seat. >> and your decision to drive off. i remember that as well. that was the most nerve-racking thing for me, having my family in my car. >> we grew up differently. where i can be, i want to be as independent as i can be. and so do catherine and harry. if i can do it myself, i want to do it myself. >> that independence is a legacy from his beloved mother, the late diana, princess of wales. william's passion for protecting animals is a memory of what she accomplished, working with africa's most vulnerable children. we showed the prince some film of his mother in africa. >> highlight a problem that's going on all around the world. >> she would come back with these stories and full of excitement and just passion for what she had been doing. i saw that as a surprise to a boy at the time, taking it all in. i never realized quite how much of an impact she had. you can feel and see when she's talking and visiting that she really connects and cares about what she's doing. i applaud her for all her dedication and her drive in doing that. and it was -- i think that infectious enthusiasm and the energy that she had that really rubbed off on me for causes such as this. >> princess diana sparked in william a love of africa so deep that it became the setting for one of the most important moments of his life. the day he proposed to kate middleton in the remote and romantic setting of mt. kenya. >> it felt appropriate getting engaged in africa. i just knew i wanted to feel comfortable where i did it, and i wanted it to mean something other than the act of getting engaged and getting married. it really sort of happened on that holiday. >> when the couple began planning their wedding in october 2010, it became clear william was thinking about his mother. >> my mother's engagement ring. >> it's very, very special. >> it's nice because she's not around to share in the fun and excitement and all this, so this is my way of keeping her sort of close to it all. >> i just hope i look after it. it's very, very special. >> she understands what it means to me, being in africa and my love of conservation and things like that. >> william's passion for africa is driven by the realization that unless he and others like him stand up for the wildlife of africa, much of it could be lost forever. images of what poachers do to the animals are disturbing. but they must be shown. >> seeing a badly injured animal such as a rhino missing its horn, it has come to me to symbolize human greed. >> an estimated 35,000 elephants were killed in africa last year alone. recovering the sinister evidence of illegal poaching has become a routine activity for local wildlife rangers. >> these are some of the snails they have been able to remove. >> the kenyon ranger shows how wildlife is trapped and killed. >> they normally use every type of snares. these are spiked. they'll be placing them on the elephant parts. you can imagine, though, these spikes getting into an elephant leg. then it is tied to a tree stump and can't move. at times, we get so emotional when we go into the forest, looking at what all this means. it's all dead. two very innocent animals. if you don't join hearts to save these animals, they'll be wiped out. sorry. it's because -- it's because of the love i have for animals. i wish everybody would come join hearts with us to save this wildlife which are so precious to us. >> get me going in a minute. yeah. it's not just a clip of the elephants and the rhinos. it's his passion and his sadness for them that really gets me quite emotional. but they are incredibly vulnerable, and i feel a huge amount of protection and a real protective instinct. more so now probably that i'm a father than i did before, which is why i'm getting quite emotional about it. i hope people who watch this just spend a few minutes just really thinking about what they have seen and how they feel about it. and if they feel there's anything they can do to help, then please do it. still to come, the duke and duchess of cambridge step out for a glittering evening, honoring the brave men and women who protect the animals william cares so passionately about. and an historic moment in africa when a princess became a queen. ♪ [ jen garner ] what skincare brand is so effective... so trusted... so clinically proven dermatologists recommend it twice as much as any other brand? neutrogena®. recommended by dermatologists 2 times more than any other brand. now that's beautiful. neutrogena®. ♪ tomato florentine soup, it took a little time to get it 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