“I’m hoping, and I’m sure there might be an invitation around, but we’ll see,” he added, fueling speculation that he and Kate could make a surprise appearance.

PEOPLE revealed on June 30 that the royal couple would not be attending the wedding.

The secret catch-up between Swift, Kelce, William and Kate — which was first reported by The Telegraph. — was hinted at in the surprise New Heights podcast episode that was released just hours before the wedding ceremony.

Travis said, “I got the chance to see you not too long ago and invited you on the show because we were talking a little Aston Villa soccer, some excitement about the World Cup.”

The filming of the podcast took place a few days after England played Croatia on June 17.

Swift and Travis Kelce previously met William and two of his children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, when they attended one of Taylor’s Eras Tour nights at Wembley Stadium, London, in June 2024.

William has been friends with Swift for more than a decade. In 2013 she performed at a charity evening for the homelessness charity Centrepoint, which he supports. The Prince even joined her on stage alongside fellow guest Jon Bon Jovi to sing the latter’s “Livin’ on a Prayer.’

He spoke about it eight years later on an episode of Apple Fitness+’s Time to Walk series. “When I sat down to watch Jon Bon Jovi do his performance, I thought, ‘That’s it. My job is done. I’ll get a dinner in a minute, and I might be able to have a chat to some people, and, you know, I’m off-duty a little bit now.’ Little did I think what was going to happen next,” he continued. “I’m sat next to Taylor Swift. She’s on my left. And after Jon does his first song, there’s a pause and she turns to me. She puts her hand on my arm, looks me in the eye, and says, ‘Come on, William. Let’s go and sing.’ ”

“To this day, I still do not know what came over me,” William said.