Taylor Swift appears to have a fan in Prince William! The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood spoke with the Prince of Wales on Monday at the 11th annual Tusk Conservation Awards, where the heir to the throne brought up the pop star.
Ronnie, whose band recently released their album Hackney Diamonds, shared (via The Telegraph): “We were talking about the tour and I said, ‘Come on, you’ve got to come out on tour’ and we were talking about the new album and everything,” adding, “William said (he would) if we could get Taylor Swift there.”
Tusk Ambassador Ronnie then told the Prince that Taylor had previously sung with Mick Jagger, to which William replied, “I’m there then.”
The future King famously shared the stage with the 1989 singer a decade ago. Back in 2013, William joined Taylor and Jon Bon Jovi on stage at the Winter Whites Gala to sing “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis’ father opened up about the performance during his Apple Fitness+ “Time to Walk” episode in 2021. William recalled sitting next to Taylor at the fundraising gala for Centrepoint. He said (via Apple Fitness+), “I’m sat next to Taylor Swift. She’s on my left. And 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,’” William continued. “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 ’Livin‘ On a Prayer’ when I don’t even know the words?’”
The Prince admitted that “there was a lot of sweating going on” under his black tie. “I felt like a swan, where I was trying to keep myself composed on the outside, but inside, the little legs are paddling fast,” he said. “Now, a lot of people might think that I’m… I’m comfortable on stage. When I do speeches and things like that, I’ve done so many now, they’re not a problem. But I’ve not done singing. At times, when you’re taken out of your comfort zone, you’ve got to roll with it.”
The Prince of Wales’ sister-in-law Meghan Markle also appears to be a Swiftie. The Duchess of Sussex reportedly attended one of Taylor’s Eras Tour shows in Los Angeles back in August.