Why Prince William Was Banned From A Video Store In College

Add a new entry to the list of scandalous Prince William moments. This one involves the cheeky royal and his habit of renting movies and returning them late, to the point that he was banned from renting anymore. The incident took place back in his university days, when he and now-wife Kate Middleton were students at St. Andrews. Per The Sun, the prince enjoyed renting DVDs from a now-defunct shop in the village — a pretty common experience in the early 2000s, royal or otherwise. However, the future king certainly wasn't on his best behavior when brushing up on his cinematic knowledge. 

According to the video-store employee, identified as Zoe, Prince William was in the shop regularly. Unfortunately, as many a college-aged young adult can be, he wasn't so responsible with meeting the due dates for when the DVDs were meant to be returned, which resulted in overdue fines. "His bodyguards would never want to pay the fines," she revealed to the outlet. "We had to ban Prince William until he paid up, which he always did in the end."

Inquiring minds would love to know what kinds of movies Prince William liked to watch back in his university days. It seems that he chose "Boat Trip" on more than one occasion, according to video clerk Zoe. The film, which came out in 2002, had a decently impressive cast (for the time): Cuba Gooding Jr., Horatio Sanz, Roselyn Sanchez, Vivica Fox, and a cameo by "James Bond" himself, Roger Moore. Despite those names, the R-rated comedy full of "homo jokes, d**k jokes, drunk jokes and t*t jokes" (per Salon) was panned. Roger Ebert wrote of the film: "It is dim-witted, unfunny, too shallow to be offensive, and way too conventional to use all of those people standing around in the background wearing leather and chains and waiting hopefully for their cues. This is a movie made for nobody, about nothing."

Nowadays, with adulthood and fatherhood changing the prince's tastes, he likely isn't looking for "Boat Trip" on his preferred streaming services. According to the Daily Mail, William is a "Lord of the Rings" fan, he loved watching his sister-in-law Meghan Markle's show, "Suits," and is a "Killing Eve" devotee. Will this incident go down as one of the biggest controversies Will and Kate have had to face? Highly doubtful. It's more likely that this will be a chuckle among the royal family and yet another example of why Prince William is actually quite relatable.