Prince William has revealed the hilarious moment a Somerset resident mistook him for another very famous prince and expected him to burst into song.
The Prince of Wales recalled how a visit to the county took an unexpected turn when a man apparently believed he was meeting Purple Rain singer Prince.
Speaking during a surprise appearance on The Graham Norton Show, which aired on Friday October 23, William said that despite being one of the world’s most recognisable royals, he “quite regularly” comes across people who do not know who he is.
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He told Graham Norton: “I went to a place in Somerset and was looking around some of the local communities there, and one lovely gentleman looked up at me from his seat and said, ‘When are you going to sing?’
“I’ve had many requests over many years from all ranging parts of society, and I said, ‘I’m sorry, what do you mean?’
“He goes, ‘When are you going to sing your performance?’, and the lady behind tapped his arm and went, ‘No, no, he’s not that prince’.
“It turned out he wanted me to sing Purple Rain, which I don’t know the lyrics for.”
William told the story during an Earthshot Prize edition of the BBC chat show, where he appeared alongside Cate Blanchett, Robert Irwin and Hannah Waddingham.
It is possible the comical confusion the prince referred to may have occurred on his most recent visit to the county, after he travelled to Ilminster on Tuesday, October 6.
The Prince of Wales visited the town to launch Ready Together, a new initiative designed to help communities prepare for emergencies and extreme weather events.
His unexpected television appearance also contained another link back to the local visit, as William spoke about his family's love of The Celebrity Traitors and meeting a star of the latest season, actor and presenter Ross Kemp.
Mr Kemp had joined William in Ilminster for the launch of Ready Together, with the pair seen chatting at Ilminster Town Football Club.
The initiative is led by the National Emergencies Trust, of which Ross Kemp is an ambassador, and aims to provide communities around the UK with practical guidance to help them prepare for and respond to emergencies.
On The Graham Norton Show, William revealed that he, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are fans of The Celebrity Traitors.
“I love it, the family love it. Charlotte and Louis are obsessed with it. It’s really good telly,” he said.
William joked that after seeing Mr Kemp the day after the programme's first episode, he decided to test just how nervous the famously paranoid faithful had become.
“I saw Ross Kemp the day after the first episode and I couldn’t help but try – in the most appropriate way – to touch him to see what reaction I got from him. Turns out he was actually very jumpy!”
He added that during his Somerset visit he “did try” to persuade the former EastEnders actor to reveal who had won the series, but Mr Kemp refused to give anything away.
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