Prince William Has A Perfect Reason For Not Watching 'Tiger King' During Quarantine

It seems like everyone with a Netflix subscription has become obsessed with Tiger King over the past month, but there's one person who will not marathoning the wild documentary series any time soon. During a recent appearance in a sketch for the BBC's Big Night In, Prince William revealed he won't ever watch Tiger King because of one very specific rule he has about which shows he'll tune in for.

The Duke of Cambridge was chatting with Stephen Fry — who reprised his iconic Blackadder character, Lord Melchett, for the bit — about the "nightmare" of keeping themselves occupied during quarantine when the topic of Joe Exotic came up. "By the way have you seen anything good on TV?" Prince William asked, before joking about the lack of soap operas on the air due to the coronavirus pandemic. "It's hell without EastEnders."

"They tell me Tiger King is quite good," Fry suggested, referring to the outrageous (and outrageously popular) documentary series about Joe Maldonado-Passage and his years-long feud with animal rights activist and Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin. However, the duke wasn't particularly interested in checking it out for himself: "I tend to avoid shows about royalty," Prince William responded. Apparently, even self-proclaimed royalty is enough to disinterest him in the show.

While he may have just been making a quick joke for the sketch, it's not the first time that Prince William has shared his disinterest in watching a TV series about "royalty." In November 2019, Olivia Colman revealed she had an "awkward" meeting with the duke at a reception at Buckingham Palace shortly after she had been cast as Queen Elizabeth in Season 3 of The Crown.

"He asked what I was doing at the moment before he quickly added, 'Actually, I know what you’re doing,'" she recalled on an episode of The Graham Norton Show. "I was so excited and asked, ‘Have you watched it?'" Colman continued, to which Prince William responded with "a very firm 'no.'"

At the 2020 BAFTA Awards in London, he even made a joke about the rising popularity of shows and films about the British Royal family, during his speech as president of the academy. "I am particularly proud to stand here tonight having served as BAFTA’s President for the last 10 years," the Duke of Cambridge said. "However, I must admit I don’t know whether I should be proud, or slightly alarmed, about the number of winners over the last decade who have portrayed members of my own family." (In addition to Colman, who won the Leading Actress BAFTA in 2019, Prince William was president when Colin Firth won for playing King George VI in The King's Speech.)

In addition to poking fun at his title for Big Night In, Prince William also used his appearance on the the show to raise awareness for NHS workers and taking part in Clap for Carers, a British initiative to thank medical staff for their hard work during the pandemic. After his conversation with Fry, Prince William and Kate Middleton — along with their three children, George, Charlotte and Louis — stepped out to the front steps of their Anmer Hall home to applaud NHS workers. And while the duke and duchess may have sat down to watch some TV afterwards, one thing is clear: They definitely weren't watching Tiger King.