When Prince William sang a rock classic with Bon Jovi and Taylor Swift

July 17, 2024, 10:19 a.m.

“To this day I don’t know what came over me.”

It is very rare to see a member of the royal family truly let loose and break the high standards of etiquette they have imposed on themselves.

Of course, there have been some troublemakers in their ranks over the years – Princess Margaret and Prince Harry certainly come to mind.

Given his almost squeaky clean reputation, Prince William would be the last royal you would expect to drop his mask.

But on one fateful night in 2013, he did what he would normally have thought unthinkable: He took the stage to belt out a rock classic.

He admitted that singing in public was not usually his thing, adding that the rush of blood to his head still makes him “shudder” today.

But Prince William took the stage with the stars of pop and rock music to sing the anthem “Livin’ On A Prayer” together with Bon Jovi’s personalities and Taylor Swift.

It seems that the stunt was entirely Taylor Swift’s work, as Jon Bon Jovi recently revealed in an interview with The Independent.

“It was all her doing. She literally grabbed him by the arm and ran on stage, and they both knew the words and sang along.”

Fun-loving Taylor didn’t let it dampen her spirits that it was her first visit to Kensington Palace – she was attending the Centrepoint Gala Dinner, a fundraiser for a homeless charity.

Bon Jovi was playing acoustic guitar with another musician when Taylor – who was sitting in the audience next to Prince William – grabbed him by the arm and dragged him onto the stage.

He nodded to Prince William to cheer him up, and Prince William “freaked out a little bit,” Taylor later recalled. He didn’t remember the words and said, “You have to go with me.”

It seems he didn’t have much of a choice, because Taylor pulled him up to sing the Bon Jovi hit.

The then Duke of Cambridge later recalled the unexpected karaoke session in a podcast interview in 2021.

“It must be nearly 10 years ago now and I can hardly believe I’m telling this story… I was at a charity gala for Centrepoint, a charity for young homeless people that is very close to my heart and that I have supported for many years.”

“It’s an annual fundraiser, and I go and Jon Bon Jovi and Taylor Swift are at the event, which almost blew me away too.”

“When I sat down to watch Jon Bon Jovi perform, I thought, ‘That’s it. My job is done. I’m going to have dinner and maybe talk to some people. And, you know, I’ve got a little bit of free time now.'”

“I had no idea what would happen next.”

Prince William, Taylor Swift and Bon Jovi sing Livin’ On a Prayer – FULL VERSION

“I’m sitting next to Taylor Swift. She’s to my left. And after Jon sings his first song, there’s a pause and she turns to me,” he continues.

“She puts her hand on my arm, looks me in the eyes and says, ‘Come on, William. Let’s go and sing.'”

To this day he doesn’t know why he agreed to it. It must have been a moment of madness.

“To this day I don’t know what came over me,” Prince William explained. “To be honest, even now I shudder at what happened next and I don’t understand why I gave in.”

“But honestly, when Taylor Swift looks you in the eyes, touches your arm and says, ‘Come with me…’, I jumped up like a little puppy and said, ‘Yeah, okay, that seems like a great idea. I’ll follow you.'”

“I walked on stage in a trance and then, about halfway through Jon Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’, I woke up and thought to myself, ‘Am I standing on stage singing ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ when I don’t even know the words?'”

“But the young guys and girls from Centrepoint were all excited and cheering. So I thought to myself: ‘Well, if they’re having fun, then it’s their night. So screw it. I can’t be the idiot who spoils everyone’s night.'”

Despite the nerves and inability to remember the lyrics, Prince William was a great sportsman that night and obviously made Taylor Swift a happy woman who was overjoyed to have lured him on stage.

“Sometimes when you’re taken out of your comfort zone you have to deal with it and I think we’re at a point in this life where we control ourselves down to the smallest detail,” Prince William added during the podcast interview.

“We worry about: How do we look on social media? Who said what about me? What am I wearing? There is so much pressure, but I think it’s OK to make a fool of yourself.”

“It’s okay to not take yourself too seriously and to have moments where you let go and just say, ‘You know what? I’m okay with this,'” William concluded.

And the entire crowd agreed. It was a truly unique moment that also cemented the long-standing friendship between the Prince of Wales and Swift.

The Prince recently let his hair down – literally – after he was photographed shaking his hips at her recent concerts at Wembley Stadium in London. It has clearly rubbed off on him.