Prince Harry has interviewed the Prince of Wales for his guest editorship of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Harry has joined the presenters of the current affairs programme in the studio and said the issues he had chosen, which included mental health, the charitable sector and the Armed Forces, were “incredibly important topics we all need to think about and need to be discussed.”

The prince has interviewed former US president Barack Obama for the programme and the statesman warns that the irresponsible use of social media is distorting the public’s understanding of complex issues and leading to the spread of misinformation.

Harry was asked about becoming the interviewer rather than being the interviewee, and said: “I haven’t done that many interviews but it was quite fun, especially interviewing president Obama despite the fact he wanted to interview me… it’s been a big learning curve but also these are incredibly important topics we all need to think about and need to be discussed.”

The prince has commissioned a BBC journalist to look at mental health and the nation’s productivity and there will be an item in the programme about the British public’s trust with the charitable sector.

In his interview with Harry, Mr Obama says people in a position of power should exercise care when posting messages.

He does not mention Donald Trump, who regularly uses Twitter, by name but says social media is corroding civil discourse.

Mr Obama also looks back on the day he handed over power to Mr Trump and despite feeling satisfied he says it was “mixed with all the work that was still undone”.

He added: “Concerns about how the country moves forward but, you know, overall there was serenity there.”