A royal attempt at crowd control
During an unannounced appearance on The Graham Norton Show on Friday, Prince William looked back at a photograph taken in London in June 2024, when Taylor Swift's Eras Tour reached the city. The prince, 44, described trying to shift Travis Kelce out of the frame so the picture would show only himself, Swift and his children. He joked that the Kansas City Chiefs tight end kept stepping back into view and that he could not figure out why.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6][S7]
The photo, which later appeared on Swift's Instagram, shows the singer up front, flanked closely by a grinning Prince William and his two oldest children — Prince George, now 13, and Princess Charlotte, now 11. Kelce is positioned toward the rear, smiling broadly, with his right hand seemingly placed on the prince's back as the group posed. A second shot captured only Swift, William, George and Charlotte laughing toward the lens.[S1]
A caption, a dance and a missed detail
Swift's caption on the post wished William a happy birthday and remarked that the London shows had begun well. That same evening, a fan recorded the prince in the stands dancing to her hit Shake It Off. According to William, the group picture turned out to be a milestone for Swift and Kelce: it was the first time she had featured the NFL player on her Instagram page, something the Prince of Wales said he had not realized.[S1]
On the show, William conceded that he had only recently learned what the photo meant and had not understood its weight at the time. The two men revisited the encounter in July on New Heights, the podcast Kelce hosts with his brother Jason Kelce, where the athlete described meeting the prince and his children as one of the coolest moments he had experienced.[S1]
