Prancing prince, the king of clubbers
After THAT disco footage, new film emerges of William’s lost ski weekend as other royals honoured Commonwealth
PRINCE William was caught on camera talking to a slender blonde as he danced in a Swiss nightclub during his controversial skiing holiday.
In further embarrassment for the future king, the mobile phone footage shows him dancing wildly to Happy by Pharrell before leaning in to talk to the woman, innocently resting his hand on her waist.
The blonde bears a striking resemblance to Australian model and barmaid, Sophie Taylor, 24, one of two women photographed earlier the same day drinking shots and ‘highfiving’ the prince.
One onlooker said that although William and the woman may have touched briefly, there was nothing untoward about it. They said: ‘It was the kind of conversation that most people have in a loud nightclub, leaning in to each other to talk.’
Another added: ‘William seemed very friendly and was happy to talk to anyone in his earshot. Some people went over and sat with him and he was happy to chat.
‘He was really going for it on the dancefloor, which everyone thought was really funny. It was a good atmosphere and he seemed to be enjoying it like everyone else.’
William has faced accusations of shirking his duties after his ‘lads-only’ holiday on the slopes of Verbier meant he missed a key Commonwealth service at Westminster Abbey on Monday, attended by the Queen and other royals. The prince met Miss Taylor, who has posed topless, on Saturday at Le Farinet nightclub in the ski resort, where she works as a cocktail waitress.
Separate footage that emerged earlier this week showed William dancing in Le Farinet on Sunday night. The new video was shot slightly earlier in the night, at about 10pm.
With his blue shirt rolled up at the sleeves, William can be seen with one arm around the shoulders of his friend and ‘court jester’, Guy Pelly, who is gesticulating wildly in the air.
At one point the prince shakes his hips, then claps loudly. The father-of-two also gestures with his arms either to encourage the DJ to play louder or an unseen person to join him.
His friend Guy almost knocks over a flaming candelabra with his exuberant dancing.
Meanwhile, William’s other friend, Tom van Straubenzee, chats to the female member of their group. As William turns back to his group, the woman briefly touches the small of his back to say something and he replies, momentarily touching her waist.
Verbier sources said she appeared to be Miss Taylor as she has been seen wearing a similar outfit this week, and has posed in an identical black hat and singlet top on social media. Her mother, Joni Taylor, told an Australian radio station yesterday that her daughter’s boyfriend, Aaron Goodfellow, who also works in Verbier and met the prince briefly, told her: ‘Go out, you’re with Prince William, have the best time.’
She insisted that her daughter was also very happy with her boyfriend.
Miss Taylor herself told reporters in Verbier that she was ‘sick and tired’ of her newfound fame. The waitress said: ‘I don’t know what everyone is talking about, it is not like that.’
A friend said the model first started chatting with William when she served him a beer, and she and her Blackpool-born friend Rosie Peate, 30, joined his group. The friend said: ‘She’s really angry about the stories because it makes it look like something it isn’t.’
It appears that the group started drinking at Le Vache restaurant at lunchtime on Sunday before moving on to another hotspot, Le Mouton Noir, and then to Le Fairnet.
William flew back to the UK on Monday night. He and the Duchess of Cambridge are not due to be seen in public until tomorrow, when they have a military engagement, before flying to Paris for a two-day official visit.
‘He was really going for it on the dancefloor’