Prince William's surprising confession hints that this royal could be one of the biggest influences on his future reign
The Prince of Wales briefly considered another career path and it looks like one family member has been inspiring him for decades
Prince William's appearance on Friday's Earthshot edition of The Graham Norton Show might've been focused on environmentalism but he still found time to slip in a few personal anecdotes. This included his childhood dream to become a policeman and the "phase" when he wanted to become a DJ "which didn't go very well".
The future King even came up with a name - DJ Xara - but specified it was "with an X". Even with this tiny change of spelling, it's still essentially his cousin Zara Tindall's first name and there are endless other options William could've picked instead. This suggests that it could've been an intentional tribute to Zara and her grounding influence continues to shape the Prince of Wales to this day.
Princess Anne's daughter has never been a working royal and woman&home magazine's Royal Editor Emily Andrews believes she's mastered the "royal balancing act". In our March issue, she described how Zara and Mike Tindall's "glamour, modernity and, crucially, loyalty to their royal relations bestow a positive glow back" on the Royal Family.
Meanwhile, royal expert Robert Jobson recently claimed to the Daily Mail that Zara "can tell the heir to the throne he is being pompous" and "he takes it" - because she knew him "before he was a headline".
Her perspective on things as a royal with a career outside The Firm is invaluable to him and from the sounds of it, she is one person who will tell Prince William how it is and be truly honest with him. When he ascends the throne it will likely be even more important for him to have someone in his family like this.
Even though Zara is low down in the royal line of succession herself she's very much in the Prince and Princess of Wales's inner circle and this surely makes her very influential on the monarchy and its future. Zara Tindall is the only royal to have been made a godparent to any of the Wales children (she is George's godmother) which reinforces this idea that she is hugely respected by her cousin.
She might play the same down-to-earth role in his life and it's already clear when the Wales and Tindall families are out together that they are all very relaxed around each other. As well as being a source of support and grounding honesty, Zara and Mike are known for their sense of fun.
According to Mike Tindall, who spoke with Emily Andrews earlier this year, they and Kate play prosecco pong together. Possibly William joins in too, though he didn't name him - "I knew that the Princess of Wales was uber competitive because I'd seen her play a drinking game called beer pong, but normally we play prosecco pong! She still plays it with us."
Neither of the Tindalls take themselves too seriously and I can imagine Zara finding Prince William's back-in-the-day DJ name hilarious and giving her very candid verdict on his skills on the decks. His career as Prince of Wales couldn't be more different and yet his cousin is still there playing her unique part in royal life.
