William and Kate, Britain’s Prince and Princess of Wales, have become the focus of a new viral video on TikTok after fans spotted an affectionate “off-duty” gesture shared by the couple during a visit to the Caribbean.
The prince and princess have seen their public roles increase in recent months, with the number of viral videos and social-media posts also rising. Clips have been shared relating to the couple’s relationships and humorous moments with their three children: Prince George, born in 2013; Princess Charlotte, born in 2015; and Prince Louis, born in 2018.
In June 2022, the couple undertook a major tour of the Caribbean, taking in stops in Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The nations are all Commonwealth realms, which are independent countries who have the British monarch as their head of state.
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The tour was met with a polarizing response from locals, with protestors turning out at each stop, calling on Britain to pay reparations for its role in the historic transatlantic slave trade. Despite this and a number of PR blunders, there were moments where the couple met with positive press, including their public displays of affection.
Uploaded to TikTok by user, royal_secrets24, “off-duty” footage of the couple holding hands prior to their official departure on the Bahamas leg of the tour has been contrasted with an “on-duty” clip of their more formal interaction later that evening.
Captioned “hand in hand” the clips have been viewed more than 170,000 times on the social-media platform, receiving over 14,000 likes and 1,000 comments, many of which have praised the couple.
“So in sync. Lovely,” wrote one TikTok user.
“And that is how it’s done,” posted another, with a further comment reading: “You just know as soon as they’re off camera he always grabs her hand.”
William and Kate regularly show affection in public, despite the perception that actions such as hand holding, touching or kissing are against “royal protocol.”
Recently the prince and princess shared a congratulatory kiss on the cheek at a charity polo match which was widely shared by fans after coinciding with International Kissing Day. The couple were also the focus of numerous reports after Kate playfully patted her husband on the behind during a joint appearance at the 2023 BAFTA Film Awards in February.
The couple’s tour of the Caribbean earned them a rare round of negative media attention, with the usually PR savvy royals falling foul of a number of blunders, compounded by public unease after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s interview with Oprah Winfrey.
In September 2022, William and Kate took on the senior royal roles of Prince and Princess of Wales, second in rank only to King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
Charles gave the couple the titles in one of his first acts as monarch following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. In his address to the nation after his accession, the king said: “Today I am proud to create [William] Prince of Wales. The country whose title I’ve been so greatly privileged to bear during so much of my life and duty.”
In these new roles the couple have increased their public appearances around Britain. However, they have yet to undertake any large-scale overseas tours of the Commonwealth.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
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