Looking back to Prince William and Princess Kate’s wedding, royal lookalikes had a big moment, but when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot in 2018, one Welsh man found himself booked and busy as a Harry impersonator.
Rhys Whittock says that he used to get “stopped on the street” about how much he looked like Prince Harry, and when William and Kate got married in 2011, he sent his photo to an agency. But it wasn’t until Harry and Meghan’s engagement that his career took off.
Speaking to Heart Bingo Online, Whittock says his life became “super busy” around the time of the 2018 royal wedding. “I did a PR stunt for EasyJet, a PR stunt for Hot Tub Company where we ended up on BBC Breakfast News, and I also appeared on This Morning. It’s such a varied job. I was even doing advertising for a wedding cake for Morrison’s.”
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Whittock has appeared on numerous TV shows and commercials as a Prince Harry lookalike.
(Image credit: Rhys Whittock)
The Harry lookalike, who says he’s never met the Duke of Sussex, admits he feels “kind of similar” in personality to the prince. “I went to a private school like Prince Harry, and one of my friends said, ‘Rhys, is this you or are you in character?’ It was so strange.”
When it comes to the Duke of Sussex’s voice and mannerisms, Whittock shares that he “used YouTube a lot” and listened to the audiobook of Harry’s memoir, Spare. “You’ve got his actual voice to listen to for hours and hours. So, I studied it and practiced the speed he speaks at and his tone,” he shares, calling Harry’s voice “quite different” to his own Welsh accent.
When asked about the “craziest thing” he’d ever been booked to do as a Prince Harry impersonator, Whittock says that he once “flew 12 hours to Macau, China for a billionaire’s 75th birthday party.”
Whittock poses with Princess Kate lookalike Jodie Bredo.
(Image credit: Rhys Whittock/Instagram)
“The other lookalikes for Prince William and the late Queen Elizabeth II also came along, so all three of us were in business class at Heathrow Airport about to fly to China,” he recalls. “We had a lot of comments from the cabin crew!”
The lavish party was held for “one of the richest men in Malaysia,” Whittock shares, adding that they “also created a replica set of Buckingham Palace, including the gates and the concrete pillars made from actual metal and stone.”
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved to California, Whittock admits that work got slower for him. “There were a few things that did make work go quiet, mainly because Harry did leave the U.K.,” he shares. “Then COVID hit, and that really killed events completely for a couple of years.”
Whittock receives an award at the The Reel Awards 2020 honoring celebrity impersonators and tribute artists.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
He shares that another change that “was really detrimental to being busy” was Queen Elizabeth’s 2022 death. “She was the most popular royal for people outside of the U.K., and everyone really looked up to her,” Whittock shares.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Whittock had so many jobs coming in that he was able to work full-time as an Harry impersonator. “The phone would always be ringing, and emails would be coming in,” he says. “When things really quietened down, I got a serious day job, so I’m now working as an estate agent.”
However, he’s been seeing an uptick in bookings since the Sussexes moved back to England. “I am very pleased to hear that they’re back,” Whittock says. “It is now believable that you could bump into them at an event. I think they obviously want to keep their privacy pretty tight, but I’m sure we’re going to see Harry going to events and enquiries for me have been coming in.”
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