Royals don’t usually do the talk-show sofa. But on Friday night, the Prince of Wales took a seat on one of the most famous couches in British television and gave viewers a rare, funny look at the man behind the title, including a secret DJ name he clearly wishes had stayed secret.
William appeared on BBC One’s The Graham Norton Show alongside Cate Blanchett, Hannah Waddingham and Robert Irwin, with music from Jorja Smith, to promote his Earthshot Prize environmental awards. Here are the highlights, based on reporting from The Telegraph and BBC News.
Meet ‘DJ Xara’
The headline moment came when Norton asked whether William had ever imagined a job other than being king. The prince admitted he once went through “a phase where I wanted to be a DJ, which didn’t go very well,” and that he even came up with a stage name.
“I was called DJ Xara with an X. It wasn’t good,” he told Norton, according to The Telegraph.
When asked whether he ever played at school parties, William said he hadn’t, adding: “I never got that good.” So, sadly, there are no lost DJ Xara mixtapes waiting to be discovered.
The policeman who might have been
Before the DJ dream, William said, there was an even more down-to-earth ambition. “I did want to be a policeman when I was younger,” he said. “I thought I could make a good policeman… Being a policeman I thought was quite cool.”
It’s a charming detail from someone whose career path was decided at birth.
‘He’s not that Prince’
The biggest laugh may have come from a story about mistaken identity. William said he recently visited a community in Somerset, where a gentleman looked up at him and asked when he was going to sing.
The confused prince asked what he meant, and the man asked when he would be doing his performance. Then a woman behind him tapped his arm and explained: “No, no. He’s not that Prince.”
It turned out the man had been hoping for a rendition of “Purple Rain,” the signature song of the late music legend Prince. William confessed he doesn’t know the lyrics.
Traitors, Ted Lasso and Aston Villa
William also showed off his pop culture credentials. He said he’s a fan of Ted Lasso, the Apple TV+ football comedy in which Waddingham stars, and of The Celebrity Traitors. He even joked that he had tried to get Ross Kemp, a contestant on the show, to reveal the winner, before admitting that Kemp didn’t give anything away.
He also admitted to being a member of Aston Villa fan forums, which will surprise exactly no one who has followed his devotion to the club over the years.
Why he was there: the Earthshot Prize
The appearance was about more than anecdotes. The prerecorded episode was designed to promote the Earthshot Prize, which connects all four guests. Blanchett is a member of the prize council, Irwin is a global ambassador and Waddingham hosted the 2023 awards ceremony in Singapore.
William explained that the idea came from frustration with how environmental stories were usually told. He said he had been struck by “the negativity and doom,” and wanted to create something that could talk about “urgency and optimism together.”
Blanchett described the award, which will hand out £50 million to innovators over a 10-year period, as a “tapestry of solutions” to the climate crisis. The Telegraph reports that this year’s ceremony takes place next month in Mumbai, where £5 million in prize money will be awarded.
A first for the famous red sofa
Some outlets billed William as the first working royal to appear as a guest on a British talk show, which made this a genuinely unusual piece of television. On the night, the prince came across as self-deprecating and quick with a joke, and his short-lived DJ alter ego quickly became the headline of the evening.
The wrap-up
Prince William may never have made it as DJ Xara, and the police force lost out on a recruit, but his turn on The Graham Norton Show gave fans a warm and funny glimpse of the future king. With the Earthshot Prize heading to Mumbai next month, he will be back in the spotlight soon. Just don’t ask him to sing “Purple Rain.”
Image: close-up DJ's turntable shining lights via Rawpixel, CC0 1.0
