Dave Grohl reveals Prince Harry was first to visit him after leg surgery

The royal also once 'slapped' drummer Taylor Hawkins backstage

American rock musician Dave Grohl is best known as the former drummer of Nirvana and the founder and frontman of foo Fighters (Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has revealed one of the surprise people to first visit him after undertaking leg surgery was Prince Harry.

Grohl, who famously broke his leg in 2015 after diving off a stage at a gig in Gothenburg, was in London for the procedure when he was visited by the royal family member.

Appearing on BBC News following a sell-out show at London's O2 Arena on Tuesday night (19 September), Grohl said: “When I had my surgery here in London he was actually one of the first people to come visit me afterward and he brought me a gift.

“He brought me this little pillow to put my iPad on while I was in recovery.”

It turns out Prince Harry's history with the band doesn't end there either, with drummer Taylor Hawkins revealing he was once slapped by the royal backstage at a gig.

“It was before the Invictus Games and we were playing at the Ambassador’s House,“ Hawkins elaborated.

“I was tired, I was jet-lagged and we met him and started to really talk, and we were just about to go on stage and I said, 'I’m so tired' and he just went [slap], and I was like... I was a little like, 'What was that?' It was great, it was funny - I wore the slap with pride.”

Grohl's leg-break forced Foo Fighters to postpone their 2015 Glastonbury headline performance appearing earlier this summer instead. Reflecting upon the time, he said:

“It didn’t hurt when it happened, then it was hard to tour for six months afterward, sitting in this ridiculous throne thing; I was physically exhausted, mentally exhausted, emotionally drained and I was like, you know, let’s just stop for a while, let’s take a year off. That’s a long time for us, some bands take five years off - I can’t imagine doing that.

He continued: "I don’t really hand friends outside the members of the Foo Fighters. It’s such a big part of our lives, it’s hard to step away from and in those six months I got reclusive and isolated and depressed and bummed-out and I eventually realised the one thing that makes me happy in life is making music and making it with my friends.”

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.

The band's one-off show - promoting new album Concrete and Gold - was rocked by "unfair" ticketing restrictions which saw hundreds of fans left devastated after being turned away.