Prince William reveals he once dreamt of being ‘DJ Xara’ or a career as a policeman

Read the original at The Sydney Morning Herald ↗
Cite

Crowe, D. (2026, October 23). Prince William reveals he once dreamt of being ‘DJ Xara’ or a career as a policeman. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/prince-william-reveals-he-once-dreamt-of-being-dj-xara-or-a-career-as-a-policeman-20261024-p61891.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Sydney Morning Herald · collected 2026-10-23 · by David Crowe

Quick Summary

Prince William recently appeared on Graham Norton’s BBC television show where he revealed his childhood dreams of becoming a policeman or a DJ. He mentioned creating a stage name "DJ Xara" but never pursued it seriously. The discussion was part of promoting the Earthshot Prize, an environmental initiative he founded in 2020 that awards £1 million ($1.9 million) grants to five winners each year from a pool of 15 finalists globally. William emphasized the prize's focus on optimism and urgency in addressing climate issues.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-23, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Prince William made a surprise appearance on BBC's Graham Norton Show on October 23, 2026, to promote the upcoming Earthshot Prize ceremony in Mumbai. The event will be held next month and features a £5 million prize awarded to global finalists tackling environmental issues. During his chat with hosts and guests including Cate Blanchett and Hannah Waddingham, William revealed he once dreamed of becoming "DJ Xara" but never achieved it. He also mentioned considering a career as a policeman before taking on his current role supporting environmental initiatives since 2021.

Written for “William's Earthshot Appearance And DJ Dreams” on 2026-10-24, grounded in this article and the 4 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 103078 · logged 2026-10-23

Story

📰 William's Earthshot Appearance And DJ Dreams
Entertainment · 5 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 15% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
BBC News · 0.95 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 6 📰 publisher trust 69
“Both articles describe Prince William's appearance on The Graham Norton Show where he talks about his past aspirations of becoming a policeman or DJ 'Xara' on the same date.”
The Straits Times
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 17 📰 publisher trust 68
“Both articles describe Prince William discussing his past aspirations to be a DJ and other careers during an appearance on Graham Norton's show.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
27
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
15%
4 of 27 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
61/100
The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
5
Entertainment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-23 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Sydney Morning Herald · 4826 article(s) · 11 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 11 correction(s)

Who wrote this

David Crowe
29 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Prince William has revealed he once dreamt of becoming a policeman or a DJ when he considered careers other than being heir to the throne.
🔮 England was at peace after defeating Napoleon, but London was ravaged by crushing poverty – and a small square of silk could be worth about two days’ wages.
🔮 Police said they were treating the attack as terrorism and were aware of reports that the killer had set traps in his home to kill visitors that he expected to investigate him after the shootings.
🔮 Troops will be deployed to reinforce police in a bid to quell riots on French streets after an outcry over the violence last weekend and a growing political debate about a breakdown in social cohesion.
🔮 In Nice, Mayor Eric Ciotti announced a curfew for young people from 9pm to 6am for the rest of this week.
🔮 She worries that politicians and the media will misrepresent the images from the protests.
🔮 On Sunday, he argued the protest movement was driven by genuine grievances over real issues, saying that people could no longer bear the high cost of living. “The situation for high school students and college students is hellish.
🔮 The speed test was undertaken in recent days by Ukrainian personnel who took Starlink equipment into a nearby European Union country to check whether they would get the same slow speeds they experienced when using the terminals in Ukraine.
🔮 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the surprise slowdown and warned that more civilians would be killed if Musk did not act to restore full Starlink services to Ukrainian forces. “We understand what is going on – they switched off, it’s their decision,” Zelensky told media host Piers Morgan in an interview aired late on Wednesday in London (about 3.30am on Thursday, AEDT) amid escalating concerns about the risk to Ukraine’s military capacity.
🔮 (Biden also placed limits on what Ukraine could do with weapons).
Also by David Crowe
Students blockade Louvre as France rolls out local curfews
2026-10-19 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 29 articles by David Crowe →

Topics

Australian BBC British Elektra/Person London

Subjects

William PERSON · 4× Norton PERSON · 3× Blanchett PERSON · 2× Christopher Nolan PERSON · 2× Irwin PERSON · 2× London GPE · 2× Waddingham PERSON · 2× Graham Norton PERSON · 1× Prince William PERSON · 1× Xara PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The talk about the prince’s early aspirations came up when he joined guests Cate Blanchett, Hannah Waddingham and Robert Irwin on Norton’s weekly BBC television show on Friday night (early on Saturday, AEDT).
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-23
🔮 Prince William has revealed he once dreamt of becoming a policeman or a DJ when he considered careers other than being heir to the throne.
2026-10-23 · The Sydney Morning Herald
Prince William reveals he once dreamt of being ‘DJ Xara’ or a career as a policeman · assertive framing

Claims (27 extracted, 4 hedged)

Prince William has revealed he once dreamt of becoming a policeman or a DJ when he considered careers other than being heir to the throne. asserted
he → reveal → throne
The Prince of Wales said he came up with a disc jockey stage name, “DJ Xara”, but never managed to play a big event. asserted
he → say → event
Asked by television host Graham Norton if he ever DJ’ed at school parties, William replied: “No, I didn’t, I never got that good.” asserted
I → ask → parties
The talk about the prince’s early aspirations came up when he joined guests Cate Blanchett, Hannah Waddingham and Robert Irwin on Norton’s weekly BBC television show on Friday night (early on Saturday, AEDT). asserted
he → come → Saturday
Waddingham, one of the stars of the Ted Lasso television series, told the prince his “DJ Xara” name was “rubbish” – to which he did not disagree. asserted
he → tell → which
Irwin, the son of crocodile hunter Steve Irwin and a winner of the British version of Dancing with the Stars, suggested the prince might have dreamt about wrangling crocodiles. uncertain
prince → suggest → crocodiles
“If I’d met you earlier, I might have,” the prince replied. uncertain
prince → meet → you
The appearance was a rare move for William to join a late-night talk show that usually features stage and screen stars speaking about their latest productions. asserted
stars → join → productions
The prince, born in 1982, discussed his DJ career ideas when Norton asked whether he had ever wondered about doing a job other than the one he was assigned at birth. asserted
he → bear → birth
“Being a policeman, I thought, was quite cool,” the prince replied. asserted
prince → think → ?
“And then I went through a phase when I wanted to be a DJ, which didn’t go very well.” asserted
which → go → phase
Blanchett, who has gained rave reviews for her appearance in Elektra/Person at the National Theatre in London, joked with William about whether he had stage moves to go with his “DJ Xara” name. asserted
he → gain → name
The prince joined the talk show to promote the Earthshot Prize, a climate project he set up in 2020 and which is backed by Blanchett, Waddingham and Irwin. asserted
which → join → Blanchett
The organisation raises funds from sponsors and selects 15 finalists each year with environmental projects around the world. asserted
organisation → raise → world
It then chooses five winners and gives each one a £1 million ($1.9 million) grant. asserted
It → choose → grant
Two Australian projects have made the longlist in recent years: the Indigenous Desert Alliance and the Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney. asserted
projects → make → Sydney
William has also announced an Earthshot Prize for children, ahead of the annual Earthshot Prize announcements at a ceremony in Mumbai, India on November 17. asserted
William → announce → November
“For many years I was hearing stories about environment issues and one thing that struck me was the negativity and doom, which got me down,” he told Norton. asserted
he → hear → Norton
“I thought we could do something more powerful and more optimistic, and the idea of an awards ceremony came about, and we could talk about urgency and optimism together. uncertain
we → think → urgency
It’s all about getting excited. asserted
It → ’ → ?
We could really highlight what is being done and scale them to the next level to have more impact around the world.” uncertain
what → highlight → world
The prince also discussed pop culture and film, including the films of director Christopher Nolan, when asked how he “switched off” from royal life. asserted
he → discuss → life
I love getting immersed in deep-thinking films,” he said. asserted
he → love → films
“I like action films too, but I like something a bit different. asserted
I → like → something
I’m a big fan of everything Christopher Nolan does. asserted
Nolan → ’m → everything
His films are fantastic – The Dark Knight series is psychologically dark and deep, and I absolutely love that. asserted
I → love → that
“He takes concepts that are completely out there and makes them incredibly entertaining.” Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. asserted
what → take → world
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support