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Prince William has gone where no working royal has gone before, and it’s reportedly not sitting well with Prince Harry.

The Prince of Wales recently appeared on The Graham Norton Show, becoming the first royal family member to do so. In October, the future king was featured on the British comedy talk show alongside Cate Blanchett, Robert Irwin, and Hannah Waddingham. While the main purpose of his appearance was to promote his global environmental initiative, the Earthshot Prize, the Duke of Sussex believes there was another reason his brother was a guest.

A source told Closer that “William had a fantastic time on Graham Norton, and the feedback at the Palace has been great, so expect more of that sort of thing. Obviously, the main motivation is to build support for his charities, particularly his environmental project, Earthshot, as well as a way to modernize the monarchy and cultivate a more relaxed image.

“But it might just be that there’s also a certain satisfaction in showing Harry that he’s got him beat in the Hollywood popularity game. Harry’s always felt William needs to show him up, so no doubt he’s looking at all this and taking it as more proof of how petty his brother can be.”

However, it’s not just the talk show. In November 2025, Prince William made a surprise cameo on Dancing With the Stars via video to cheer on and show his support for Irwin, who missed the Earthshot Prize ceremony in Brazil to stay in the dance competition. Irwin did go on to win the DWTS Mirrorball Trophy. And on July 3, the Prince of Wales was a guest on a special episode of the New Heights podcast with Travis Kelce and Jason Kelce.

William is known to have a good relationship with Travis and Taylor Swift. While on The Graham Norton Show, the heir apparent joked about trying to push Travis out of a photo the first time he met him, as he was trying to get a pic of just him, Swift, and his children. Travis later laughed off the comments and said he completely understood since “I was just a boyfriend at that point.”

Someone who used to work for King Charles and his sons opined that William has become a celebrity royal, like Harry and Meghan, but this is not a slight at his estranged brother. It’s something that the monarchy may just need to do going forward.

Grant Harrold was King Charles’ personal butler and valet from 2004 to 2011. He also looked after Prince William and Prince Harry when they stayed at Highgrove House. Harrold told Showbiz Cheat Sheet, “I describe Harry and Meghan as ‘celebrity royals,’ and this is very much what William and Kate are also starting to do. This really goes to show that their approach is vastly different to anything we’ve seen before, and the transition is in full swing.”

“This could be what the royal family has to be in the future: a hybrid of celebrity and royal. They’ve already lost a lot of the mystery, which used to be what being a royal was all about. William obviously has plans to make it less royal, and maybe that will be more celebrity-focused with more red carpets, more showbiz-focused.”

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