Prince William Says He's Still Actively Cringing About His Impromptu 2013 Duet with Taylor Swift
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There are two kinds of people in the world—there are people with normal human levels of nervousness when meeting members of the royal family for the first time and then there is Taylor Swift.
But seriously. While most people might be even 1% shy or hesitant when, say, attending a literal ball at a literal palace with literal royalty, Taylor was not only not shy at all, but she dragged said royalty—specifically Prince William, second in line to the British throne—onto the stage with her for an impromptu musical number. ...As you do?
This very true event went down in 2013, when Taylor attended a fundraising gala for Centrepoint (a charity focused on helping young people experiencing homelessness) at Kensington Palace and pulled William on stage with her and Jon Bon Jovi for an unplanned performance of "Livin' on a Prayer." During a new interview for Apple Fitness+'s Time to Walk series, William opened up about the surreal experience, which, for the record, he finds cringey AF to this day, apparently. To be fair though, it sounds like Will's cringe is entirely at himself, not at Taylor or Bon Jovi, both of whom he was apparently pretty starstruck by.
"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.' Little did I think what was going to happen next," William explained (per People). "I'm sat next to Taylor Swift. She's on my left. And after Jon does his first song, there's a pause, and she turns to me. She puts her hand on my arm, looks me in the eye, and says, 'Come on, William. Let's go and sing.'"
At this point, William did what almost anyone on earth would do if Taylor Swift invited them to go casually belt out a song with Jon Bon Jovi—he got up and sang a damn song with Taylor Swift and Jon Bon Jovi.
"To this day, I still do not know what came over me. 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, okay, that seems like a great idea. I'll follow you,'" he said. "I walked up on stage in a trance, and then sort of halfway through Jon Bon Jovi's "Livin' On a Prayer" song, I wake up, and I'm thinking to myself, 'Am I standing on the stage singing 'Livin' On a Prayer' when I don't even know the words?'"
Even though the moment was very out-of-character for Will, his reason for not having any regrets about it is actually extremely on-brand for the royal.
"But the Centrepoint young guys and girls were there all loving it and cheering away. So I thought, 'Well, if they're enjoying it, then the night is for them. So sod it. I can't be the doofus who's going to ruin it for everyone,'" he explained. "And so I desperately try and remember some of the words and sing as hard as I can. Beneath my black tie, there was a lot of sweating going on. I felt like a swan, where I was trying to keep myself composed on the outside, but inside, the little legs are paddling fast."
And just to save you some inevitable googling, you can watch William and Taylor's iconic performance with Bon Jovi below:
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