“To this day, I still do not know what came over me,” the Duke of Cambridge said in a special ‘audio walking tour’ that he recorded with Apple Fitness+. “Honestly, even now I’m cringing at what happened next, and I don’t understand why I gave in,” he went, recalling the moment at the 2013 charity gala that Taylor Swift looked him in the eye, touched his arm, and said, “Come on, William,” before leading him onstage to join Jon Bon Jovi. William said, “I got up like a puppy and went, ‘Yeah, okay, that seems like a great idea. I’ll follow you’.”
Although the trio had gotten halfway through the performance before the duke realised he didn't know the words, he didn't want to be a "doofus" in front of the children supported by the charity Centrepoint and who were in the audience that night—so he remained onstage. "At times, when you're taken out of your comfort zone, you've got to roll with it," he said. William made the guest appearance on Apple's Time to Walk podcast series, in which he spoke about his struggles with anxiety and depression, and his belief that walking is a great way to cope with mental health issues. The episode was recorded last spring on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, where the royal family spends Christmas every year and partakes in a traditional walk to Mary Magdalene church on Christmas morning. William passes this very church during his walk for Apple, outside which members of the public will gather for a glimpse of the royal family. William and Duchess Kate's two oldest children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, made their Christmas walk debut last year. He recalls how his grandfather Prince Philip, who died this year at the age of 99, used to charge ahead when William himself was a kid, and how William and his cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie would be giggling in the pews during service. Another revelation was William's affection for the Tina Turner song 'Simply the Best', which he said Princess Diana would play in the car to help distract William and Prince Harry's anxiety about returning to boarding school. Describing such a scene as a "real family moment" William said, "My mother, she'd be driving along singing at the top of her voice and we'd even get the policeman in the car, he'd be occasionally singing along as well." Now, he said, when he listens to that song, "It takes me back to those car rides and brings back lots of memories of my mother."
Meanwhile, his own kids' favorite song at the moment is 'Waka Waka' by Shakira! Charlotte in particular, "goes crazy" when she hears that song, with three-year-old Prince Louis "following her around trying to do the same thing." "There's a lot of hip movements going along with a lot of dressing up," William said. The royal ended his walking tour by arriving at Anmer Hall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's 10-bedroom manor on the Sandringham Estate, which was a wedding gift from Queen Elizabeth II when William and Kate got married in 2011 (see their 10th anniversary photoshoot here!) Next up, Why Prince William Loves His Trusty Blue Sweater
