Taylor Swift’s critically-acclaimed Eras Tour finally landed in London on Friday night and, as expected, there were plenty of noteworthy moments.
The “Fortnight” singer took to the stage at Wembley Stadium to deliver a high-octane show in front of a crowd full of famous faces. Her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, looked on proudly, as well as her long-time friend, model Cara Delevingne. Meanwhile, Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan was photographed at the sold-out show. But it was the royal element that really caught fans’ attention, as Prince William attended the concert with his two eldest children, Prince George, 10, and Princess Charlotte, 9.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Enjoying their royal privileges, William—who was celebrating his 42nd birthday—took his children backstage to meet Swift, and the group immortalized the moment with a selfie. With Swift holding the camera, she took a snap of herself and her boyfriend enjoying time with the royals. Both George and Charlotte could be seen smiling widely. Taking to Instagram, Swift shared the selfie with her 283 million followers on Saturday afternoon, alongside the caption: “Happy Bday, M8! London shows are off to a splendid start.” Marking the international unity, she posted a Union Jack flag alongside the star-spangled banner and a hand-shaking emoji.
But Swift wasn’t the first to share the special moment on Instagram, as just four minutes earlier, the Prince and Princess of Wales’ social media account had shared a photograph that captured Swift taking the selfie with the happy group. The royals’ account captioned the moment by writing: “Thank you, Taylor Swift, for a great evening!”
Kate Middleton, who continues to take a scaled-back approach to public-facing events following her diagnosis with an undisclosed type of cancer earlier this year, was not pictured at the concert. While the Princess of Wales, who has been undergoing “preventative chemotherapy,” recently made her public return at Trooping the Colour, she has expressed that her treatment is ongoing and will be for a few more months. “I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty,” the mother-of-three wrote in a public note shared on June 14. “Taking each day as it comes, listening to my body, and allowing myself to take this much needed time to heal.”
As for Prince William and Swift posing for photographs on Friday evening, this isn’t the first time the duo has enjoyed one another’s company. The pair famously went viral back in 2013 when they joined Jon Bon Jovi on stage to sing his 1986 hit “Livin’ on a Prayer.” A video of the moment that unfolded during the Centrepoint Gala Dinner, a charity event for a homelessness non-profit organization, at Kensington Palace, has since been widely circulated.
Bon Jovi revisited the viral moment once more in an interview earlier this year. “It was all her,” the rock star told the Independent, praising Swift for making the moment happen. “She literally grabbed him [William] by the arm and ran up on stage, and they both knew the words and sang along.”
Bon Jovi added that he’s “grateful to this day” that Swift encouraged Prince William.
Meanwhile, Prince William recalled the moment in an episode of Apple Fitness+’s Time to Walk podcast in 2021, with somewhat less enthusiasm. The royal, who was seated next to Swift at the event, said that “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.’”
“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,” the Prince of Wales explained. “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… when I don’t even know the words?’”
However, despite his own hesitations, William noted that the crowd was “loving it and cheering away,” so he figured he might as well enjoy it, too.
