Prince William Said He Was Left ‘Cringing’ Over This Taylor Swift Interaction in a Resurfaced Video

Taylor Swift, Prince WilliamMonica Schipper/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images, Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Prince William is probably blushing after a video of a moment he later labeled as “cringe” has gone viral on TikTok over 10 years later. A video of The Prince of Wales belting out a song during an impromptu karaoke session with Taylor Swift and Jon Bon Jovi has left first-time viewers slack-jawed.

According to Newsweek, the hilarious moment took place on November 26, 2013 during the Centrepoint Gala Dinner in London, a fundraising event for a homelessness charity of which William is a patron.

At the event, William and other attendees watched Bon Jovi perform his hit “Livin on a Prayer” with some A-list help from Swift but, unexpectedly, the performers decided they needed some royal assistance.

William reflected on the moment while appearing on Apple Fitness+’s Time to Walk podcast in December 2021. “To this day, I still do not know what came over me,” he said.

He explained that he arrived to the event with no knowledge that the famous musicians would be performing, let alone expecting him to join in. “I turn up and Jon Bon Jovi and Taylor Swift are at the event, which nearly knocked me off my feet,” he said. “And then I went inside, met everybody, a lot of handshaking to do these nights, a lot of chatting. I try and be charming and interactive.”

“When I sat down to watch Jon Bon Jovi do his performance, I thought: ‘That’s it. My job is done. I’ll get a dinner in a minute and I might be able to have a chat to some people and, you know, I’m off-duty a little bit now,’” he added. However, before he knew it, he was being dragged on stage.

“Honestly, even now I’m cringing at what happened next, and I don’t understand why I gave in. But, frankly, if Taylor Swift looks you in the eye, touches your arm, and says, ‘Come with me…’ I got up like a puppy and went, ‘Yeah, OK, that seems like a great idea. I’ll follow you.’”

Despite his embarrassment about the moment, William hinted that it taught him a valuable lesson about learning to let go. “I think we’ve got to the stage in this life where we do micromanage ourselves,” he explained. “We do worry about: how do we look on social media? Who said what about me? What am I wearing? There’s so many pressures, but I think that making a fool of yourself is OK.”

“It’s OK to not take yourself too seriously and have those moments where you let go and you just go: Do you know what? I’m OK with this.”