Prince William reveals he tried to crop Travis Kelce out of his famous selfie with Taylor Swift

Prince William made an unexpected confession about Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift while recalling the famous photograph they took in June 2024, when the Kansas City Chiefs player was backstage during one of the Eras Tour performances at Wembley Stadium.

William had attended the concert with his older children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, and was able to meet Swift backstage. The group ended up posing for a selfie that also featured Kelce, although the prince has just revealed that he originally had other plans for that photograph.

William wanted a photo without Travis Kelce and tried to crop him out

During his surprise appearance on The Graham Norton Show, the host asked him whether he was aware at the time of how important the image would become. William admitted that he did not understand its significance until much later and revealed, laughing, that he even tried to move the Chiefs tight end out of the frame.

His intention was to get a photograph with only Taylor and her children, but Kelce insisted on returning to the group.

“Travis kept coming back”, William explained when recounting the scene. The prince added that he did not understand why the player kept returning again and again while he was trying to keep him out of the photograph.

The anecdote ended up being especially curious because that selfie had a much greater significance than William imagined. When Taylor Swift posted the image on Instagram, it became the first photograph the singer shared on her main account together with Kelce, making their relationship official on that platform.

Kelce also later recalled that meeting and spoke enthusiastically about having met William and his children. The player even joked about the doubts he had regarding the proper protocol when greeting members of the British royal family.

Taylor Swift and William's history goes way back

The Wembley meeting was not the first time William and Swift crossed paths. The two had already starred in a memorable moment in 2013, during a Centrepoint charity gala at Kensington Palace, when they ended up on stage singing “Livin’ on a Prayer” alongside Jon Bon Jovi.

More than two years after that selfie, the anecdote takes on even more meaning. Swift and Kelce got married on July 3, 2026, at Madison Square Garden in New York, so that Wembley photograph ended up becoming one of the first major public moments of a relationship that ultimately led to marriage.

What William didn’t know at the time was that, while he was trying to get a family photo with Swift, Kelce was starring in one of the most important images in his history with the singer.