If you had any doubt that Prince William is a very modern royal, then may we present this year’s Royal Variety Performance. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were the guests of honour at this year’s bash at London’s Palladium theatre, which was hosted by Miranda Hart. The show, which went out on ITV on Tuesday (19 Dec) night featured the usual mix of music, comedy and cabaret, but what we weren’t expecting was for William to become the star of the show, when he galloped (yes, galloped) in the Royal Box.

Wow. It was all part of an on-going sketch that saw Miranda attempt to get the royal to take part in her favourite activity – galloping. After asking the cast of ‘Annie’ to put the request to the second-in-line to the throne, he actually agreed. Twitter was delighted…

#galloping #RoyalVarietyPerformance #itv #PrinceWilliam #HRH
Never normally one to watch the #RoyalVarietyPerformance HOWEVER it must be said that Prince William had been a pretty good sport so far. Never seen any other royals galloping on TV

December 19, 2017
#galloping #RoyalVarietyPerformance @ClarenceHouse
Prince William galloping is one of the best things I’ve ever seen…. ?? @mermhart is just brilliant! #RoyalVarietyPerformance
@mermhart getting Prince William to gallop has made my evening! My hero! #miranda #royalvariety #suchfun
Prince William doing a gallop at the Royal Variety has made my night.
Prince William galloping!! Oh what do our kids do to us ? #RoyalVarietyPerformance
Prince William just galloped on the royal variety show. When will your prince ever?
It wasn’t the only time William brought the house down as he’d also gamely taken part in an earlier sketch when Miranda also managed to rope him into a re-imagining of a sketch from her BBC sitcom. In the comedian’s opening skit for the show, Miranda called upon her audience to recreate a “posh” party. After the audience had played their part in the party sketch, William shouted “such fun!” from the royal box.