There are a good few moments in life when our inner child slips out in excitement. It was not much different for Prince William when the royal made an appearance at the Top Gun: Maverick film premiere in 2022. Stuart Heritage—a Guardian columnist who covers culture—shared a special story about the Prince of Wales while covering the BAFTA 2023 as part of the newspaper's live blog on February 19, 2023.

Prince William—who has been President of BAFTA since 2010—attended the 2023 BAFTA Awards ceremony after a two-year absence. On the occasion, Heritage recounted a "fun little story" about a pair of black velvet loafers with an embroidered F-18 Super Hornet that William had specially ordered for the Top Gun: Maverick premiere in May 2022.

"He did this big long meet and greet with all the film's stars, who are all American and therefore all automatically a bit iffy on the idea of a monarchy in the first place," Heritage wrote. "Anyway, during this meet and greet, Prince William kept pointing at his shoes, and the film's cast all responded by doing this weird noncommittal 'Oh' face in return. This is because, it turns out, Prince William was wearing special shoes that had fighter jets embroidered on them."

"Imagine that for a moment. You've made a film. The film is going to single-handedly revive the global theatrical experience. And here you are, in London, watching the future king of England point at his special airplane shoes. Like a child would. Imagine being Jon Hamm trying to think of something to say to a literal prince who is determined to show you his special little airplane shoes, because he thinks they will somehow delight you. Imagine it," he added.

Heritage concluded the story by mentioning that Prince William wore "normal shoes" to the BAFTAs. The shoes definitely didn't go unnoticed with Hamm later describing them as "very cool." He even expressed to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, "Prince William had on his tuxedo shoes, embroidered F-18s... very cool Top Gun tuxedo shoes... that means you made it."

Miles Teller, another Top Gun star, discussed meeting William and Kate at the premiere on The Tonight Show, but it wasn't the royal's tribute shoes that piqued Teller's interest. Instead, he admitted that he got "honestly lost in Prince William's eyes" and that they were as "blue as the bluest ocean."

We wish the Prince a lifetime supply of the most interesting shoes that excite his inner child. Designers, take note.