Prince William’s ‘Forever Young’ Transformation Goes Viral

Prince William’s transformation from teenager to adult has been charted in a new viral video ahead of his 42nd birthday. The prince is expected to mark his big day on June 21 with his family, as Princess Kate continues to take a step back from full-time royal duties while she receives preventative chemotherapy treatment following a cancer diagnosis earlier this year.

For William, the past 12 months have seen him spend more time with his wife and the couple’s three children—Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis—as their domestic life has adapted during Kate’s health challenges. As the monarchy has entered its busy summer season, the prince has attended garden parties and visited to Cornwall and Wales, as well as taken part in the Trooping the Color and Garter Day celebrations and Royal Ascot.

Uploaded to TikTok by user windspncer on June 2, the footage highlighting William’s transformation from adolescence to adulthood has been viewed over 400,000 times on the video-sharing platform. Overscored by the hit 1984 song “Forever Young” by German synth-pop band Alphaville, the footage includes clips of William captured in the 1990s and early 2000s compared with his 2024 appearance at the BAFTA Film Awards in London.

A number of the clips used were captured in 1997 during the prince’s August vacation at Balmoral Castle with his father, King Charles (when Prince of Wales) and brother, Prince Harry. A traditional photo call was held on the estate just days before news broke that Princess Diana had died following a high-speed car crash in Paris. William was 15 years old at the time and Harry was 12.

Both princes have since spoken about the death of their mother and its impact on their childhoods. In 2021, they came together to unveil a new statue of the princess on the grounds of their former family home at Kensington Palace. Captioned “I want to be forever young,” the TikTok compilation video has received in excess of 73,000 likes and over 140 comments, many of which have praised William and his physical transformation over the years.

“I don’t care what they say about him, he will always be the best of the royal family,” wrote one social media fan of the prince. “He’s still handsome and that’s a fact 😍, ” posted another, with a further comment reading: “He looks like his mother.” William has seen his role within the monarchy change over the past two years, since the death of his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.

Not only did the prince move one position closer to the throne in the line of succession, but he was made the new Prince of Wales by his father the king, as well as becoming the head of the Duchy of Cornwall, a billion-dollar property portfolio.