NFL star Travis Kelce and his brother Jason gave listeners a royal rundown of their meeting with Prince William last week, and it sounds like the encounter went well, to say the least.
The two Super Bowl champs met the future monarch and two of his children ― Prince George and Princess Charlotte ― backstage while they were attending a London stop of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour over the weekend.
“We don’t even know if we’re allowed to tell you guys,” Travis said of the encounter on the most recent episode of the brothers’ podcast, New Heights, released on Wednesday.
Jason agreed that the two had “gotten mixed messages on whether we’re allowed to share this story or not”.
Despite their hesitation, the brothers forged ahead and said that the three royals were “an absolute delight to meet”.
“I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to, like, bow to them, curtsey ― just be an American idiot and shake their hand,” Travis said. “We wanted to be polite, especially on this side of the pond.”
“They specified that ... because we weren’t like at, like, an official royal event, we didn’t need to bow or curtsey,” Jason explained. “But I did still address him as ‘Your Royal Highness’.”
“I’ve never felt emasculated, and I did,” Jason then said with a laugh. “That was the closest I’ve ever been.”
Travis then quipped that he’d “never seen” his elder brother “give someone that much respect”. “You put your beer, like, 10 feet away from you,” he joked.
“They were wonderful people, and that’s what it’s about. Obviously, literally part of a monarchy ― royalty,” Jason replied.
“Hard to be a down-to-earth human being, I would assume, but came off that way completely.”
Travis also seemed taken with the Prince of Wales, dubbing him “the coolest motherfucker”.
Jason, meanwhile, said he was particularly impressed with Princess Charlotte.
“I gotta say, Prince William was fantastic, but the highlight was Princess Charlotte. Prince George was great, too. She was so fucking adorable,” he added, as his brother called her a “superstar”.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s ’cause I have three girls now,” Jason continued. “She had a fire to her, she was asking questions... that was the most electric part [of the meeting].”
Jason did mention during the latest podcast episode that he was quoted as essentially saying “fuck royalty” prior to his meeting with the Wales family.
“I’m out on honouring kings,” he said during an episode of “New Heights” released earlier this week, while his younger brother attempted to cut him off.
“Listen, we’re Americans. We don’t do royalty.”
“Fuck kings,” he added.
It seems that the elder Kelce brother’s initial thoughts didn’t affect the encounter, as both Taylor and Prince William posted selfies from the meeting on social media.
Taylor also got a warm welcome from the royals after touching down in London town. The royal guard performed Taylor’s hit song Shake It Off at the Changing of the Guard last week in front of Buckingham Palace.