The Prince of Wales joked about being mistaken for singer Prince and revealed his childhood dreams of becoming a policeman or DJ during a surprise appearance on The Graham Norton Show.
William featured on an Earthshot Prize special edition of the chat show on Friday, joining Cate Blanchett, Robert Irwin and Hannah Waddingham on the sofa.
Mistaken for the 'Purple Rain' singer
During the programme, William insisted that, despite being one of the most recognisable faces on the planet, he "quite regularly" encounters people who fail to identify him.
He told Norton: "I went to a place in Somerset and was looking around some of the local communities there, and one lovely gentleman looked up at me from his seat and said, 'When are you going to sing?'."
"I've had many requests over many years from all ranging parts of society, and I said, 'I'm sorry, what do you mean?'."
"He goes, 'When are you going to sing your performance?', and the lady behind tapped his arm and went, 'No, no, he's not that prince'."
"It turned out he wanted me to sing Purple Rain, which I don't know the lyrics for."
Alternative career ambitions
When asked whether he had ever dreamt of alternative careers had he not been born heir to the throne, William confessed that as a youngster he had harboured ambitions of becoming either a police officer or a DJ.
"I did want to be a policeman when I was younger, I did think I would be a good policeman," he said.
"And then I went through a phase where I wanted to be a DJ, which didn't go very well, and I came up with a name, I was called DJ Xara with an X, it wasn't good."
Taylor Swift and The Celebrity Traitors
William also spoke about his encounter with Taylor Swift backstage at her record-breaking Eras Tour during her performance at London's Wembley Stadium in June 2024.
The prince revealed he only lately understood the "significance" of a photograph he and his children Charlotte and George took with Swift's now-husband, American footballer Travis Kelce, which became the first image the singer posted of them together.
William joked: "I hadn't appreciated the significance, and actually, I was trying to move him out of the photo, and he just kept coming back in."
"I kept trying to move him out, so it was just me, Taylor and the children."
William also revealed his family's enthusiasm for The Celebrity Traitors, mentioning that he even touched paranoid faithful Ross Kemp "to see what reaction I got from him".
He said: "I love it, the family love it. Charlotte and Louis are obsessed with it. It's really good telly."
"I saw Ross Kemp the day after the first episode and I couldn't help but try – in the most appropriate way – to touch him to see what reaction I got from him. Turns out he was actually very jumpy!"
William added he "did try" to persuade Kemp to disclose who won the series, but the EastEnders star remained tight-lipped.
