Jordan Frieda Makes Wills a Prince Charming

Winning as high-profile a role as the lead in ABC's buttoned-down Prince William biopic would have sent many a young Briton running for his mum and dad. But not Jordan Frieda. Even though he's a bit of a royal himself — his folks are pop singer Lulu and renowned hairstylist John Frieda — the fair-haired bloke headed in exactly the opposite direction. Blimey, he wouldn't even let Pop trim his bangs!

"I haven't let my father cut my hair in years!" he tells TV Guide Online, horrified. "The problem is, he can be the best hairdresser in the world, but because I'm his son, he makes my hair look all preppy and conservative. He could've just come from a fashion shoot, but to do my hair, his personality changes and he becomes a father."

Luckily, Frieda didn't need much parental guidance, anyway. Having matriculated at Eton College alongside Chuck and Di's No. 1 son, he'd gotten the lowdown on his highness long before being fitted for the crown himself. He even saw firsthand that the upper-crust underclassman wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty.

"I never came in contact with William since he's five years younger than me," says the twentysomething, "but I did, at one point, bump directly into him at a dinner, where he actually collected a few plates from me and scraped the food off and cleaned them up. He was working in the kitchen, which was a bit of a shock, you know, seeing the future king of England doing dishes!"

As Sunday night's 7 pm/ET premiere of Prince William draws near, its star is bracing for another potential surprise. However, it isn't a TV Guide critique or even his parents' opinions that have his knickers in a knot, it's the thought that — criminy! — he could receive a call from Buckingham Palace.

"I'm sure [the Windsors] will watch it," he admits. "We actually talked to the producer about this during filming. He was like, 'Trust me, they will watch it. They're too clever not to.'

"But," he adds, "I hope they'll see that what we've tried to do is build in a human story and show them very much as they are, especially William and the pressures that this poor young man is under, which are enormous. And I tell you, I reckon that we've done a really nice job for them."