The Prince and Princess of Wales — aka William and Kate — were leading a list of celebrities who clicked “like” on Taylor Swift’s Instagram post Tuesday, announcing her engagement to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
That means that Prince William and Kate Middleton also are among the more than 14 million Instagram users who signaled their embrace of this celebrity love story, starring one of the other most famous and most successful women on the planet and her amiable football player boyfriend. Swift and Kelce captioned their announcement:
“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”
The royal “like” came from the official Instagram account of the Prince and Princess of Wales, while two other famous Kates — Kate Hudson and Katie Holmes — similarly offered Swift and Kelce their congratulations, via “likes.”
FILE – Taylor Swift gets a kiss from Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce as they arrive to watch play between Jannik Sinner, of Italy, and Taylor Fritz, of the United States, during the men’s singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sept. 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
But it’s worth noting that two other famous women didn’t click “like,” but probably would have if they had stayed good friends with Swift. Former supermodel Karlie Kloss was once part of Swift’s “squad,” and the two women’s visible closeness once prompted rumors they were dating. But at some point, Kloss and Swift stopped hanging out, especially after Kloss married Ivanka Trump’s in-law Joshua Kushner and was photographed in 2019 on a yacht with Scooter Braun, one of Swift’s biggest professional enemies, according to Cosmopolitan.
Meanwhile, Blake Lively spent Monday and Tuesday on Instagram posting happy birthday wishes she received from other people, though not Swift. The decade-long friendship of Lively and Swift reportedly ended this year over Swift’s perception that the “It Ends With Us” star dragged her into the legal mess with Justin Baldoni.
The “like” from William and Kate makes a lot of sense, given that William and their two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, appear to be big Swifties. They also helped Swift and Kelce go Instagram official with their relationship in June 2024. That’s when William, George and Charlotte attended one of Swift’s London performances as part of her Eras Tour. Before the performance, they stopped in backstage to meet Swift and Kelce. A selfie that Swift posted to her Instagram, showing her, Kelce, the heir to the British throne and his two children caught the world’s attention.
Of course, the 14-time Grammy winner is her own kind of royalty. She’s the queen of pop music and the queen of popular culture. Her marriage to Kelce will probably draw the kind of global following that a British royal wedding would. Unfortunately for Swifities, Swift and Kelce are not heads of state, so they are under no obligation to offer the public any glimpse into their big day.
Just as it’s not clear when Kelce proposed marriage to Swift, it’s also not known when he and Swift will tie the knot. It would make sense that they want until after the upcoming NFL season. No doubt, the business- and PR-savvy Swift will find a way to maximize any announcement she and Kelce make about their wedding plans and if their guests include some members of the British royal family.