Description: The name, the X-shaped hand gesture and Hannah Waddingham’s reaction explained after the BBC One broadcast on 23 October 2026.
“DJ Xara” was the stage name Prince William says he invented during a youthful ambition to become a DJ. On The Graham Norton Show, the Prince of Wales admitted the plan never went particularly well. The other guests then made the name itself the punchline.
From a childhood career question to a failed stage name
Graham Norton asked William whether he had imagined another career instead of the one he was born into. He first recalled wanting to be a police officer. Later came a DJ phase, complete with the self-chosen name “DJ Xara”—specifically spelled with an X. Asked whether he ever played school parties, he said he had never become good enough.
That might have ended as a mild confession. Hannah Waddingham, familiar to many viewers from Ted Lasso, instead dismissed the name as rubbish. Cate Blanchett wanted to know where the X belonged. William demonstrated by crossing his arms. Blanchett immediately wondered whether that was one of his DJ moves. He said it was not. One questionable name had somehow generated a second, even more questionable stage gesture.
Why the exchange landed
The contrast does most of the work. The heir to the British throne, usually encountered at formal engagements, was now defending an adolescent-sounding stage name against professional performers on a comedy chat-show sofa. The guests treated him as another participant in the banter rather than giving the name a royal exemption from criticism.
The X is important: the spelling sounds more distinctive than it looks or sounds aloud, so William had to illustrate it physically. The gesture gave Blanchett another opening. Nothing in the exchange establishes that DJ Xara was a professional music career or a forthcoming release; it was his account of a phase that did not progress far.
Why did this come up on 23 October?
The programme was recorded on Thursday 22 October and aired on BBC One on Friday 23 October 2026 at 10:40 pm UK summer time. William appeared unexpectedly for an Earthshot Prize special, alongside Blanchett, Waddingham and conservationist Robert Irwin. The environmental award, founded by William in 2020, was the reason for the visit; the DJ anecdote was a lighter detour. Contemporary reports document the dialogue and reactions. This account does not claim a first-hand viewing of the entire episode, nor does it infer worldwide popularity from UK coverage.
The answer
The joke was not that a prince had secretly become a famous DJ. It was that his proposed DJ identity failed a spontaneous panel review before he had even played a school party. “DJ Xara” may have retired before its first proper set.
