London: Kurtley Beale says he was shocked to see his photo with Prince William go viral to the extent that basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal cropped a picture of his head onto the body of the budgie smuggler-wearing Wallabies star.
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Beale has become an online sensation, with his latest Instagram post receiving more than 17,000 likes in 21 hours.
It was shared in so many parts of the world that O'Neal, one of the most famous basketballers in the world, picked up on it.
Instead of simply re-posting it to his 6.5 million followers, O'Neal photoshopped a picture of his face onto where Beale's would have been and put up the caption: "It was a pleasure meeting you Prince William".
It was a pleasure meeting you prince William
A post shared by DR. SHAQUILLE O'NEAL Ed.D. (@shaq) on Nov 12, 2017 at 9:54pm PST
Beale was caught completely off guard by the basketball legend's post and decided to reply in the comments section.
"Looking good big boy," Beale wrote. "Must be doing the same ab workout" before including a laughing emoji.
Speaking on Monday in London, Beale said he could not believe what had transpired in the last 24 hours.
"I didn't really realise how much it was going to take off," Beale said. "It's a bit of a surprise for me. It's good for the brand, I guess.
"I saw that [post from Shaq]. There has been a bit of chat, hasn't there? It's pretty cool.
"Prince William is a really good guy, he's pretty down to earth. He actually threw a few jokes around with Bernard [Foley] and I, saying: 'who had the better 'tache?' It was really good fun and it was nice to meet him.
"He came in the sheds and said g'day to the boys, which was pretty cool. First time I've met him."
For the record, Prince William said Beale had a better moustache than Foley.
It's the photo everyone has been talking about with almost every British website lapping up the image which could go down as the best sports photo of 2017.
Beale also revealed he offered to give Prince William a pair of customed Indigenous budgie smugglers.
"I had just came from the recovery room and I recover in ice baths," Beale said. "I love playing in my budgie smugglers, so they were the last things that I was wearing. I just happened to be taking it easy and it was pretty good to have a yarn with him in the sheds.
"I asked him if he wanted my ones that I had on. I'm sure we'll be able to organise a pair if he wanted some for Christmas."
Asked whether he would get a similar picture this weekend with Prince Harry in the change rooms at Twickenham, Beale replied: "We'll see how we go. We've obviously got a big challenge ahead playing England. That's in the forefront of my mind but it's always special when you meet royalty."
