It’s been a whole year since the Best Wedding Ever, so we treated HRH looky-likeys Collette Mullarkey, 24, and Simon Watkinson, 30, to a meal. Chicken Royales all round!
Where Burger King (geddit?), Leicester Square, London
Happy anniversary! Would you ever go on a date to Burger King?
Simon: It wouldn’t be my first choice.
How long have you been lookalikes?
Collette: I started just before Kate and Wills’ engagement – my boyfriend’s mum encouraged me to do it.
The real deal announce their engagement S: Just over a year. Around the time of the Royal Wedding my girlfriend sent my photos to an agency and it went crazy.
Do you get nervous before an appearance?
C: Very, very nervous. I want to portray Kate as best I can.
S: People are always judging you. I’ve had people come up and say: “You don’t look like him, you’ve got too much hair.”
Are you worried about the receding royal hairline?
S: My career might be over soon unless William gets a hair transplant!
Where’s the strangest place you’ve been recognised?
S: I wear a suit to work as a civil engineer, so when I’m on the tube I hear people say: “Is that Prince William?” and I think: “Er, I doubt he’d get the tube.”
C: I get a lot of double takes in the office where I work as an admin assistant. People say: “You’ll never guess who I thought you were!”
How much money have you made?
S: Around the time of the wedding I was doing three jobs a day and earning around £1,000, but usually it’s £600-£800 a day.
I wouldn’t want to be Kate in real life!
Wow! What do your partners think?
S: My girlfriend gets a bit jealous about some of the raunchier shoots.
C: My boyfriend’s really into it!
Have either of you ever pretended to be the real thing?
S: An old lady came up to me and said: “I met your mother many years ago, she was a lovely woman.” I just said: “Thank you” because I didn’t want to upset her.
Has it helped you to, erm, pull?
S: Saying I looked like William was the chat-up line my girlfriend used! But I’ve heard stories of other William lookalikes using it to their advantage…
Collette, do you get through enough eyeliner to sink the HMS Britannia?
C: Yes! This job is heavy on the kohl.
Have you turned down job offers?
S: I’ve said no to an offer to advertise underwear. You don’t want to upset William and Kate.
Ever come close to meeting them?
S: I met the Queen when I was little, but I’d love to meet William and Kate. I like to think they’ve seen some of our stuff…
C: …And that they’re OK with it! I think they seem quite light-hearted.
Do you want to be them in real life?
C: No way! I’ve had a taste of people coming up to you and wanting your photo and it’s intense.
S: I’d like to be William. I think there are more advantages than disadvantages!
And with that, we elbowed our way through the swarm of snap-happy tourists who’d mobbed us, thinking our “Wills” and “Kate” were the real thing. If only they knew!
The damage
People who interrupted our shoot to take a photo 47
Tourists fooled into thinking they were the real Kate and William Countless
Minutes we spent looking for a Burger King crown 23 (We couldn’t find one. Sob.)
Bites of burger our Kate-alike ate 0
