The Graham Norton Show sofa is not a place any of us associate with “normal blokes”. Most Friday nights, it is host to the most famous people in the world, usually in surreal combinations – Stormzy and Dame Judi Dench, Matthew Perry and Miriam Margolyes – who, rather than attempt to appear relatable, revel in their celebrity, tell outrageous stories and generally bask in showbiz without apology.
So maybe it was an unexpected choice for a surprise appearance from Prince William. Kensington Palace is laser-focused on making him appear as “average millennial dad” as possible, so that we forget his lineage or his privilege or any of the drama associated with his family and decide that, perhaps, the monarchy has a future after all. Wouldn’t that mean swerving anything as shamelessly starry as Graham Norton?
I’m afraid I have to report it was a triumph. He emerged, in front of a stunned crowd, to sit alongside Cate Blanchett, Hannah Waddingham and Robert Irwin (son of Steve, and just as passionate about “beautiful” crocs), who are ambassadors of his Earthshot Prize, which awards five contributors to environmentalism every year.
“I was meant to be seeing the WI”, was his sharp opener – well done to whoever armed him with that – and it was a breeze from there: self-deprecating, gracious, generous, as relaxed as we have ever seen him and with surprisingly good comic timing. When news broke of the appearance on Friday morning, most had assumed it would be a brief cameo to plug the prize – in fact, he stayed the full hour and, while promoting Earthshot with sincere passion and pride, he also managed to marvel at a fellow guest’s nearly-naked photoshoot with a python, and booted someone out of the red chair.
It would have been very hard not to find him endearing. He chatted about Ross Kemp on Celebrity Traitors, about how his friends got him into Aston Villa “Clearly thinking they’d get some free tickets in later life, and I think it’s probably worked,” about loving films that are “deep” and a “little bit different” and then naming Christopher Nolan (bless), and about trying to edge Travis Kelce out of his family selfie with Taylor Swift. I especially laughed when Norton asked the prince if it does his head in spending his life posing for photo opps. “It’s a privilege to operate the popcorn machine everywhere I go,” was the wry reply.
The Graham Norton Show’s core audience is so broad that this was neither an attempt to pander to monarchists (there was really no royal chat whatsoever, other than stating the obvious about his extraordinary life and job) nor aggressively and obviously trying to win over the critics.
It was, however, the perfect place to demonstrate just how likeable he is, so that anyone watching passively while slumped in their sofa might think, “if we have to have a king, it may as well be him”, or even more powerfully, “seems like a nice guy, different to the rest of them”. Which is what made this a genius bit of PR.
It is probably no coincidence that it came in a week that Prince Harry also did an interview – a sit-down profile with American GQ, in which he returned to the subjects of grief, his mother, his humanitarian work, his “escape” from the UK and his desire for a reconciliation with his father and brother. It is the kind of raw, anything-goes exposure we have come to expect from him by now, and that perhaps we once thought we wanted after centuries of tradition dictating the royal family maintain silence.
Unfortunately, though, it has long felt like repeating the same old grievances, and increasingly like desperation for relevance. And this worked in Prince William’s favour. Rather than “tell-all” after “tell-all”, he instead presents himself as looking to the future with optimism, taking the piss out of himself, and doing impressions of crocodiles. I refuse to be duped by the engine of the monarchy, to be manipulated by the puppeteers of its publicity, but I’m somehow left believing William really is different to the rest of them. I cannot believe how well this worked.