Jon Bon Jovi revealed in a recent interview that Taylor Swift orchestrated the viral moment where Prince William joined her on stage to sing his 1986 hit “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
The royal was present at the Centrepoint Gala Dinner, a charity event for a homelessness non-profit organization, held at Kensington Palace in London.
“She’s the one who did it all,” Bon Jovi said. “She literally grabbed him by the arm and ran up on stage, and they both knew the words and sang along.”
Bon Jovi expressed his gratitude to Swift, who, according to him, emboldened Prince William that evening. Bon Jovi is currently promoting his documentary on April 26.
Over the years, Swift and Prince William have shared their recollections of the incident, despite some differences in their accounts.
In one clip, Bon Jovi begins strumming, about to sing “Livin’ on a Prayer,” before addressing the audience. “And just maybe the karaoke kid could come up and sing a couple words,” the singer said, eliciting cheers from the crowd, adding “you’re going to come up for the chorus.”
Swift recalled Bon Jovi pointing at Prince William and saying something like “I hear you like to do this at karaoke night,” she told The Graham Norton Show in 2014. Bon Jovi started the song, and Swift said Prince William looked at her and started “kind of freaking out a little bit,” saying he didn’t remember the words and telling her “you’ve got to go with me.”
So they went up on stage to sing, and “I died,” she said with a laugh.
“It was insane,” she said earlier in the interview. “I was very nervous for the whole thing, because I was at Kensington Palace and it was my first royal encounter of sorts.”
Prince William also shared his memory of the night during an episode of in 2021. The royal was seated next to the singer and said that “after Jon does his first song, there’s a pause, and she turns to me. She puts her hand on my arm, looks me in the eye, and says, ‘Come on, William. Let’s go and sing.’”
“To this day, I still do not know what came over me. Honestly, even now I’m cringing at what happened next, and I don’t understand why I gave in. But, frankly, if Taylor Swift looks you in the eye, touches your arm, and says, ‘Come with me…’ I got up like a puppy and went, ‘Yeah, okay, that seems like a great idea. I’ll follow you,” the Prince of Wales said. “I walked up on stage in a trance, and then sort of halfway through Jon Bon Jovi’s ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ song, I wake up, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Am I standing on the stage singing…when I don’t even know the words?’”
But Prince William said that everyone was “loving it and cheering away,” so he decided to embrace the moment.
“I can’t be the doofus who’s going to ruin it for everyone. And so I desperately try and remember some of the words and sing as hard as I can,” he said. “Beneath my black tie, there was a lot of sweating going on. I felt like a swan, where I was trying to keep myself composed on the outside, but inside, the little legs are paddling fast.”
