Prince William has sent royal fans into a frenzy with ‘sit down’ hand motion, as the royal is deemed to not be a huge fan of “the attention or the spotlight”.
The 41-year-old dad-of-three returned to work on Wednesday with an appearance at a gala for London Air Ambulance in central London. William had taken some time away from royal duties whilst his wife, the Princess of Wales, remained in hospital after undergoing “planned” abdominal surgery on January 16.
The royal is known to have wanted to prioritise his family and focus his attention on the pair’s three young children – Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis, five.
Princess Kate was discharged from The London Clinic on January 29 – 13 days after her admission – and William is said to have been granted permission from King Charles to make sure his wife was “settled” at home before returning to duty.
A clip of William from Wednesday night appears to have caught the eye of fans on X, formerly Twitter.
William – who is patron of London’s Air Ambulance Charity – received a standing ovation and was spotted looking bashful as attendees applauded his duty.
In the clip, William can be seen ushering attendees to ‘calm down’ with a subtle hand motion – leaving fans in a frenzy.
One fan wrote: “‘Sit down, Sit down’ Prince William motioned with his hands [heart-eyed emoji] I will always love this man for hating the attention or the spotlight…”
The account @Canellecitadelle – who shared the clip – also referred to a past comment made by William in their post: “Prince William once admitted in an interview back when he was 23 years old: ‘I’ve spent 22 years of my life in the spotlight; you don’t know much different. But you never really grow used to the spotlight. I wouldn’t really say I’ve grown used to it because I’m not really the attention-seeking type. So being in the centre of the spotlight is a bit awkward but it’s something I’ve got to do and something I can adapt to’.”
Commenting on the post, another fan wrote: “Amongst his many many qualities is his humility! With all that’s going on in his life, how does he find the strength to keep calm and carry on?! But, I suppose as he’s said, it’s duty & service! He truly is a remarkable man!”
Another fan wrote: “Our Prince is a very humble man and I have no doubts he will be a wonderful King one day.”
A third fan wrote: “This is a King in the making, With Such Humility oh my lord [heart-eyed emojis] William will be a King like no other, Yes I said it.”
In a heartfelt speech at a glamorous fundraising gala, the Prince of Wales said the public’s kind messages for his father and wife meant “a great deal”.
Wiliam joked: “It’s fair to say the past few weeks have had a rather ‘medical’ focus. So I thought I’d come to an air ambulance function to get away from it all!”
As well as being patron since 2020, William also served as a pilot in the East Anglian Air Ambulance from 2015 to 2017.
