WATCH: Prince William's Dramatic Moment That Has Fans Talking

Social media fans praised Prince William's "regal" appearance on Wednesday in a dramatic clip from a palace-made video recounting the events of the Order of the Thistle celebrations in Edinburgh, Scotland.

William (known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland) attended a church service at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh with King Charles, where Queen Camilla and Prince Edward were installed as royal knights of the Order of the Thistle.

The Thistle is Scotland's highest chivalric order and is the equivalent to the Order of the Garter in England. King Charles serves as its head and members are appointed solely by himself as sovereign, not upon the advice of the government. The order's members are made up of people who are considered to have made significant contributions to the country of Scotland, as well as members of the royal family.

William was made a member in 2012 by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.

Prince William Order of the Thistle
Prince William during the Order of the Thistle celebrations in Edinburgh, Scotland, on July 3, 2024. Footage of the prince was shared by the Kensington Palace social media team on Wednesday. Andrew Parsons / Kensington Palace/Prince and Princess of Wales/X

After the service on Wednesday, Kensington Palace uploaded to its social media channels a slick new video highlighting moments from throughout the day's events.

Since King Charles' coronation last year, the palace (which acts as the official household of William and Princess Kate) has produced a number of short, artistically shot, video clips highlighting the Wales family's appearances at public events.

These have included behind the scenes moments that fans would previously have had no access to, highlighting a shift to allow more access to William and Kate's lives and a more polished PR output from the palace.

Wednesday's footage showed William at various stages throughout the day, including during the ceremony at St Giles' and the official Thistle photoshoot with the king and queen at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

One clip in particular caught the eye of fans and commentators alike. The first shot of the video features William walking in slow motion, with the velvet robes of the Order of the Thistle flowing behind him, which got a number of social media users talking.

"Some serious drama with the slow motion effects..." said royal editor of The Times, Kate Mansey on X (formerly Twitter).

"I will never complain about slow motion shots of Prince William in his fancy robes," a fan responded.

"KP knew what they were doing with those first seconds," wrote another X user, with a further comments reading: "His walk is so majestic," "@kensingtonroyal social media game is 💯," and "Slo mo William looks so regal! 👑"

Newsweek approached Kensington Palace via email for comment.

The video highlighting William in such a way comes as his role within the monarchy has become more senior since the accession of King Charles, with his public image establishing him as a future monarch.

William has slowly increased his public appearances in recent months after taking a break to support Princess Kate following her abdominal surgery in January and cancer announcement in March.

The prince and princess were seen together in public for the first time this year in June for the Trooping the Colour celebrations. This marked Kate's first official appearance of 2024, following a positive health update issued on June 14, in which she said though continuing to receive chemotherapy treatment and not being "out of the woods" yet, she hoped to make more public appearances over the summer and begin working from home.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about Charles and Queen Camilla, William and Kate, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.

About the writer


James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more

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