Whatever part of the military you're in, the reason you have such pride in it is because you believe in the history of it. Marine history is kept alive in the mess bar. There's always a good night out to be had. But I've had some good adventures going away on exercises around the world – in Belize, America and Germany. I was on operational deployment, and our job was to remain vigilant at all times. Sitting on a rock looking down on the beauty of Scotland – it doesn't get much better than that. Some of my happiest memories are in the north of Scotland, on the top of a munro or out for a walk in the valleys, and stopping to have a drink out of my hip flask. My wife often mixes them all up with vodka too and they're lethal – you don't taste the spirit, so you've got to watch it. I don't really go in for cucumber – but maybe some berries as we grow raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants in our garden. I like a straight-up gin, tonic and lime. I like the Edinburgh Gin company – they are really good. My 'job done, I've earned this' drink is a gin and tonic. For white, you can never go wrong with an Oyster Bay from New Zealand. I wish I was more of a connoisseur but I'm perfectly happy with their reds – they go well with my steak or spaghetti. I've got a Nespresso machine at home – don't worry, I recycle my pods! I make myself a latte and start my day with that. I have a coffee first thing in the morning – before I've drunk any water or eaten any food. The decanter can't be lifted off the table – you have to slide it. You must always pass it to the left, because that's the port side. Port is the Marine drink, because we're part of the Navy, and there are lots of big rules and traditions.
As soon as a bottle is finished on a table, it's his job to put a full one back down. The rules are that it's bad luck to run out of vodka – in Poland, there is always a room that the best man has a key to which is full to the gunwales with vodka. If you find yourself at a Polish wedding, you're in for a good time. We had a bottle of vodka on every table at our wedding. We nursed our way through a bottle of whisky as we closed out the night. We recently spent a week together visiting my in-laws and my parents came with us to see where my wife grew up. My dad and I always end an evening together with a dram of whisky. I'm a snob – my festival days of drinking lukewarm Strongbow from a can are behind me. I love it now – on a hot day it's perfect, and you can drink it out of a bottle. I remember trying to convince myself I liked it.
I was 16 when I first had a drink – my dad let me have a stubby beer. With Prince Harry, I'm not sitting there thinking, 'Wow, this is a famous person I'm having a drink with' – I'm just sitting having a drink with a mate.
We were in an Irish bar in the Hague and we kept saying, 'Come on, mate,' but he had to give a speech the next day and said: 'No, no, I've got a job to do tomorrow.' The wonderful thing about Invictus is that we're just old friends catching up. The last time I went out with Prince Harry he only had one Guinness, whereas the rest of us went for it. I remember watching the 1998 World Cup final there when France won – in the town square, eating pizzas in the bar and drinking coca fraise. I remember a little town square in Nyons, where we'd have a coca fraise – which is a glass of Coke with a bit of strawberry syrup in it. We'd spend a good three weeks down there. Twenty-four hours, nonstop in the back of the car with dodgy air-conditioning. Growing up, my family would jump in the car and drive from our home in Scotland to the South of France. JJ has a coffee first thing in the morning before he has drunk water or had any food