Camilla Luddington reflects on viral kiss scene from 2011 Royal TV film

Camilla Luddington has reflected on one of her earliest on-screen roles playing Kate Middleton in the 2011 Lifetime film William & Kate and the unexpectedly “hilarious” challenges behind filming its most memorable scene.

Speaking exclusively to People, Luddington, 42, revisited the romantic swimming sequence she filmed opposite Prince William, played by Nico Evers-Swindell, revealing that the cold conditions made the iconic kiss far less glamorous than it appeared on screen.

“I think honestly… there’s a scene where Kate jumps into the water and swims to William,” she recalled. 

“It was freezing cold water. And it was so cold that we had to kiss that I was like, ‘My lips are numb. I’m not even feeling the kiss at all.’ That was a really funny filming day.”

Despite the discomfort, Luddington said the experience remains one of her fondest memories from the production, which was shot in just three weeks and centered on the early romance between the then-future royal couple.

The film premiered in April 2011, just weeks before the real-life wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey, adding to the project’s global attention at the time.

Luddington also noted that she has never met the Princess of Wales in person, joking that she still finds it amusing she was never “invited to the palace.”

Looking back, the Grey’s Anatomy star admitted the film received a mixed reception, particularly in the U.K., where audiences reportedly struggled with its lighter Lifetime-style tone compared to expectations of a serious royal drama.

Despite early criticism and humorous family reactions to reviews, Luddington said the project remains a memorable stepping stone in her career, one she still gets asked about more than a decade later, even as she continues her long-running role as Dr. Jo Wilson on Grey’s Anatomy.