As fans across the galaxy celebrate Star Wars Day on Sunday, May 4, royal watchers are still reeling from a scene that never made it into one of the franchise’s most successful films — and it involved two very famous British faces. Prince William and Prince Harry were set to make a top-secret cameo in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, suited up as stormtroopers for a brief scene during a 2016 visit to Pinewood Studios.

The pair filmed their scene in full costume, reportedly appearing alongside Benicio Del Toro’s character DJ, in a sequence where stormtroopers guard an elevator. But when the film hit cinemas in December 2017, the royal brothers were nowhere to be seen. According various reports at the time, the highly anticipated royal cameo ended up on the cutting room floor — and not for lack of effort. A source previously told the Mail on Sunday: “Stormtroopers have to be exactly 5ft 11in.

"At the time we shot it I think the feeling was that the scene would make the final movie. Everyone feels bad that William and Harry lost out on their big moment. However, the scene just didn’t work for the final cut so it was left out.”

Prince Harry is 6ft 1in while Prince William stands at 6ft 2in, towering over the uniform stormtrooper standard.

Though modern stormtroopers aren’t clones like in earlier episodes, uniformity is still key — and the two brothers simply stood out too much to pass for First Order guards.

Insiders added that the discrepancy became even more obvious when the scene was reviewed in the edit, leading to the difficult decision to remove the footage entirely.

Adding to the buzz, Star Wars actor John Boyega — who plays Finn — confirmed their cameo had been scrapped during an appearance on ITV’s This Morning.

When asked about the royals’ involvement, he said: “Yeah they were man, I’m sick of this. They were but they were cut out of the film.”

It’s not the first time celebrities have made blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearances in the galaxy far, far away. Daniel Craig famously played a stormtrooper in The Force Awakens, while other cameos have included Simon Pegg, Tom Hardy, and even Ed Sheeran.

But unlike those successful celebrity cameos, the royal scene just wasn’t meant to be.

Rumours of their appearance first swirled after the set visit in 2016, but it wasn’t until later that insiders confirmed the both princes had filmed the scene in full gear.

The cut means the brothers joined the exclusive club of Star Wars extras whose screen time was slashed for technical reasons.

Despite missing out, they can take comfort in knowing they were part of one of the highest-grossing films of all time.

The Last Jedi raked in over $1.3 billion globally, ranking in the top 10 worldwide box office hits.

It featured an ensemble cast including Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Mark Hamill and the late Carrie Fisher, with director Rian Johnson helming the eighth episode of the legendary saga.