🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
The moment Prince William appeared to break character during a formal royal event with Kate Middleton has gone viral on social media as royal fans shared the humorous footage to video-sharing platform TikTok.
William and Kate have become the subject of increased social media posts in recent months since becoming Prince and Princess of Wales in September 2022, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Filmed during a special service at Westminster Abbey in July 2018 to mark the centenary of Britain's Royal Air Force, William was captured by news cameras breaking into an uncontrollable smile as he sat among the congregation.
Uploaded to TikTok by user the.royal.watcher on June 11 and captioned "when you get caught having the giggles but you make out it's just something to do with your watch 😂😂😂..." the video of William's jovial moment and following interaction with Kate has been viewed over half a million times so far.
The video has also received in excess of 10,000 likes and 100 comments, many of which praised the prince and his momentary break with the solemnity of the occasion.
"Nothing worse than getting the giggles at an inappropriate time 😂😂😂," wrote one user.
"I love the fact she [Kate] just smiled ❤️lol they look great together," posted another, with a further comment reading: "Things that only couples understand..😅"
A number of users pointed out the striking similarities between William in the TikTok footage and his late mother, Princess Diana, who died in 1997 when he was just 15 years old.
"Oh my gosh, he has Diana's expressions...it's adorable," noted one commenter, with another adding: "William definitely has his mothers personality. That look was her through & through.🥰"
The prince's physical likeness to Diana was pulled into focus earlier this year, as his brother, Prince Harry, wrote that it was fading as he aged. Describing his brother's appearance at a 2021 meeting in Windsor, Harry wrote: "I took it all in: his familiar scowl, which had always been his default in dealings with me; his alarming baldness, more advanced than my own; his famous resemblance to Mummy, which was fading with time. With age. In some ways he was my mirror, in some ways he was my opposite."
Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, also attended the 2018 RAF centenary celebrations with William and Kate, together with Queen Elizabeth II, the then-Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall.
The event took place just two months after Harry and Meghan's royal wedding and fans of the couple were treated to a rare appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace with the rest of the royals to watch a special flypast over London after the service.
William's viral smile moment at the abbey comes soon after another clip of the prince attending a service at the London landmark was widely shared online.
Footage of William appearing to fall asleep during the annual ANZAC Day service with Harry and Meghan in May 2018 was shared by fans this month, with many highlighting that the exhausted prince made the appearance just two days after the birth of his youngest child, Prince Louis.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more