REBECCA ENGLISH: Going on Graham Norton is risky business for a royal... But this is why William made the appearance - and it has nothing to do with Harry

REBECCA ENGLISH: Going on Graham Norton is risky business for a royal... But this is why William made the appearance - and it has nothing to do with Harry By REBECCA ENGLISH, ROYAL EDITOR Published: | Updated: There were gasps from the live audience at the filming of Graham Norton’s ever-popular BBC talk show when he announced his next guest. Little wonder. Prince William is only the second future British king to sit down on a chat show sofa (and one of only a handful of senior royals ever, including his father when he was Prince of Wales and aunt Princess Anne). The talk show format can, of course, prove a sink or swim for even the most experienced media personality. And while Norton is not known for savaging his guests, nor is he one to stand on ceremony. His gentle mix of comedy and unpretentiousness can persuade even the glossiest Hollywood celebrity to share the kind of stories about themselves that might cause them to wake the next day thinking, ‘did I really say that?’ So it could have been risky territory for the prince. The Prince of Wales on The Graham Norton Show with fellow interviewees Cate Blanchett, Hannah Waddingham (centre), Robert Irwin and performing guest Jorja Smith (right) Interestingly, some in the media were saying yesterday they thought it was a rare miscalculation by the usually fairly sure-footed royal. PR veteran Mark Borkowski said he believed William’s unprecedented appearance was a direct response to Harry and Meghan’s repeated high profile media appearance in recent years and shows ‘just how angry he is about his brother’. He even accused the heir of ‘abandoning’ decades of royal tradition as a ‘riposte’ to the Sussexes' domination of royal news coverage since their dramatic move back to Britain two months ago. 'When the late Queen was alive, she maintained the royal mystique by staying above all this kind of stuff, just releasing the odd cleverly worded statement here and there,' said Mr Borkowski, adding of the latest development: ‘It looks petulant, it looks like sibling rivalry – Cain and Abel, whatever. ‘It's playing Harry at his own game, and the royals should be above that – it's a misstep. 'As soon as you start talking about a PR war, you know you've lost. As simple as that.’ Others, though, might think Mr Borkowski missed a very crucial point about William’s motivations. William is only the second future British king to sit down on a chat show sofa Unlike his estranged brother and former working royal, the prince wasn’t there to publicise himself or his latest money-making scheme (in Harry's case so often based on either using, or attacking, his own family). In fact, William only decided to go ahead with the appearance, alongside stars Cate Blanchett, Hannah Waddingham and Robert Irwin, to publicise his forthcoming Earthshot Prize awards in Mumbai (all three of his fellow guests on Norton's sofa are long-term supporters of the awards). Earthshot is an environmental initiative the prince started six years ago to highlight and scale up some of the most positive solutions to the environmental crisis on the planet. From environmentally friendly tyres for electric cars to technology that can grow new coral reefs from scratch, Earthshot may have started as a glitzy awards ceremony with £5million in prize money on the table each year, but it has grown into something akin to a global movement, helping to boost hundreds of green initiatives worldwide. But it isn’t always an easy sell. With so many global crises – not to mention royal family ructions – to occupy the attention of the media and public, this kind of good work can often get overlooked. It’s why we saw William playing cricket on The Mall the other week, and with just three weeks to go until the biggest Earthshot Prize yet, it is also why the prince has now decided to pop up on our television screens in the most unlikely of formats. He’s already managed to get Amazon Prime to show the Earthshot ceremony in 240 countries across the world. Now, Graham Norton is another weapon in his armoury. I am told by someone at the filming that William was ‘warm and relaxed’, chatting mainly about Earthshot but also dropping in sweet but harmless stories about how much he, Charlotte and Louis love Celebrity Traitors and how he once wanted to be a policeman or even a DJ. I am told by someone at the filming that William was ‘warm and relaxed’, writes Rebecca English There was certainly none of the finger-fiddling, jaw-clenching angst of Harry’s most recent money-spinning ‘masterclass’ and follow-up GQ interview. And not a single mention of family estrangement or reconciliation. Far from being so riled by his brother that he has chosen to play him at his own game, William is very much ploughing his own furrow (as are the rest of the family), friends say. Of course it is something that needs to be deployed wisely. Coming on the back of last year’s brilliantly successful documentary with Hollywood star Eugene Levy (but without a single hard question in between), it is something William would be wise not to do too often. But the suggestion that this is part of some Cain and Abel fight to the death? Far from it. Harry has something to sell that William simply isn’t interested in buying.