Princess Diana might have been named the ultimate style icon of all time in a recent survey of the British public, but in a twist no one saw coming, the People’s Princess has been officially outranked by her own son. It wasn’t Princess Kate or Meghan Markle who topped the list of most influential royal style icons in a recent study from women’s fashion brand Kaiia, but none other than Prince William.
The research has revealed that more than 11.6 million people search the internet for “Prince William style inspiration” each month, with the future monarch achieving a nearly-perfect style popularity score of 99 in the study. And although search-wise he falls behind wife Princess Kate, who garnered 14.6 million Google searches for her outfits, William is the King of royal TikTok with a whopping 600,000 searches for his style each month compared to Kate’s 60,000.
The brand’s study analyzed how often people search for each royal’s outfits on Google, how many YouTube videos mention their clothing, and how frequently their style comes up on TikTok. It also measured how often they appear in online photos, with the overall data used to give each royal a score out of 100 based on the popularity of their style.
Prince William is pictured at a January 2025 event for Centrepoint.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The Prince of Wales sported a green shacket during a trip to Liverpool in January.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
While Princess Kate’s clothing still sells out on the regular, it makes sense that more people are searching on TikTok for William’s style specifically. The Prince of Wales’s “finance bro” fashion transformation has definitely made fans take notice over the past two years. Items like quarter-zips, shackets, denim shirts and casual sneakers have been on rotation this year, giving William a more modern look.
His green shacket was even the subject of discussion during a February 2025 episode of the Sun’s “Royal Exclusive” YouTube show. “Prince William’s been wearing a shacket recently,” the publication’s royal editor, Matt Wilkinson, said, quipping, “This is a real thing! It’s half jacket, half shirt.”
Wilkinson added that the Prince of Wales “seems to have modern clothing with bright white trainers” these days, noting that royal men “have really stepped it up” in terms of their outfits. GB News royal correspondent Cameron Walker also spoke about William’s updated wardrobe, noting, “He looks like a finance bro or something, doesn’t he?”
King Felipe, Queen Letizia and Princess Leonor (first three from left) all made the top 10 most influential royal style icons list.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
While William took the top spot on the list, he was followed by Princess Diana, Princess Kate and Queen Elizabeth, with Meghan Markle rounding out the top five royal style influencers.
As for the other royals who made the top 10, Princess Leonor of Spain and her father, King Felipe, were surprising TikTok stars with 99,000 and 100,00 searches per month, respectively.
Leonor, who will become Queen of Spain one day, emerged as a Gen Z favorite with her polished pantsuits and glittering gowns—easily beating out her stylish mom, Queen Letizia, in both Google and TikTok searches each month.