Prince William's casual reply when asked how he wanted to be addressed on The Graham Norton Show has been interpreted by a royal commentator as a possible sly dig at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The Prince of Wales made a surprise appearance on the BBC chat show last week, joining actors Cate Blanchett and Hannah Waddingham and Australian conservationist Robert Irwin on the red sofa. He was promoting his environmental initiative, the Earthshot Prize, whose annual awards ceremony is set to take place in Mumbai, India, next month.
Exchange on the Red Sofa
Shortly after he sat down, host Graham Norton asked Prince William how he wished to be addressed. "For the purposes of chat show land, how do I refer to you?" Norton asked. Prince William responded: "Whatever suits." When Norton settled on William, the 44-year-old replied: "Yeah. William. That's good!"
Reflecting on the appearance, The Mail on Sunday Editor-at-Large Charlotte Griffiths suggested the interaction could have been seen as a "sly dig" towards the Sussexes.
Commentator's Interpretation
"I thought that that whole moment when Graham Norton says, 'What should I call you?' I almost felt like he was alluding to the fact that Meghan and Harry call themselves prince and princess and their children, even on their birthday cakes, it will say Princess Lilibet," Charlotte mused on News24.
"Meghan calls herself the Duchess and HRH. I don't know if I'm reading too much into it but I almost feel like that was a sly dig. It was so nice that you could tell William genuinely was saying whatever suits, he doesn't really care and it wasn't put on."
Praise for William's Appearance
Charlotte went on to praise Prince William's performance on the show, noting that his appearance had been carefully planned and had gone down a "real treat". "He'd obviously planned to do a good job on that couch. And he did. He went down a real treat," she added.
She said it was "a shame" that Andy Burnham's appearance on Gogglebox was around the same time, accusing the prime minister of "stealing William's thunder". Meanwhile, she noted that the tabloids were preoccupied with the latest revelations surrounding Meghan's father, Thomas Markle.
"It almost overshadowed his appearance. But I was quite pleased to know amongst my friendship group anyway, everyone was talking about it the next day. That appearance didn't go unnoticed," she said.
Thomas Markle Snr, 82, has been accused of possessing thousands of indecent images of children. Meghan's half-brother, Thomas Markle Jnr, allegedly reported their father to authorities after claiming he found thousands of indecent child sex abuse images inside four boxes at a former residence in Cebu, Philippines. Thomas Markle Snr has denied the allegations, describing them as "sick lies" and insisting it was "the worst thing anyone could accuse me of". He has offered to take a lie detector test, insisting any illicit files were planted. The Duchess of Sussex, 45, said she was deeply distressed by the allegations and revealed she had been aware of them since 2018.
