Prince William appeared on The Graham Norton Show and shared an amusing story about being mistaken for the late singer Prince, when a member of the public asked him to perform Purple Rain.
The Prince of Wales made a surprise entrance on the programme, joining Cate Blanchett, Robert Irwin and Hannah Waddingham, who are all championing the Earthshot Prize initiative. His arrival caught viewers off guard, as Norton initially conversed with the other guests before casually mentioning the prince's involvement, prompting William's dramatic entrance.
Purple Rain mix-up in Somerset
Graham remarked: "Recently you were at an event and someone didn't know who you were?" William replied: "Yes, that happens quite regularly actually. 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?' and I looked at him, I've had many requests over many years for 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 a 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."
Earthshot Prize in Mumbai
Next month sees Mumbai host the Earthshot Prize, where the future monarch will encounter Bollywood luminaries while discovering India's enormously popular cinema industry, engage with cricketing legends and oversee the ceremony distributing £5million in prize funds to those proposing solutions to heal the planet.
Prince William discussed the genesis of the Earthshot Prize and how it identifies and backs innovators globally. He said: "For many years I was hearing stories about environment issues and one thing that struck me was the negativity and doom which got me down."
"I thought we could do something more powerful and more optimistic and the idea of an awards' ceremony came about and we could talk about urgency and optimism together. It's all about getting excited."
Blanchett, who serves on the Earthshot Prize council, characterised the Prize as a "tapestry of solutions", while Irwin, a global ambassador for the initiative, highlighted how the prize has cultivated a fresh wave of environmental champions.
William's Earthshot Prize initiative is midway through its decade-spanning programme to acknowledge and celebrate challenges and concepts aimed at preserving the planet, having already taken place in London, Singapore, Cape Town, Boston and Rio de Janeiro.
