The mystery George Brett photo which inspired Lorde's 'Royals' song is revealed (PHOTO)

Just as she said before, a Kansas City Royals player was the inspiration behind Lorde's mega-hit single "Royals."  The 17-year-old New Zealand singer apparently got the idea after seeing an photo of a once anonymous KC player signing autographs on National Geographic Television.

But after some research, National Geographic has confirmed that the pop star was referring to this incredible shot of the Royal's legend, George Brett, surrounded by a flock of baseball-holding fans:

In an interview a few months ago with VH1, Lorde (real name Ella Yelich-O’Connor) explained how she "had this image from the National Geographic of this dude just signing baseballs. He was a baseball player and his shirt said, 'Royals.'"

"It was just that word. It’s really cool."

Some people will say the song isn't actually about the baseball Royals, but instead refers to modern-day celebrity kings and queens. Hence the line, "And we'll never be royals."

The music world is just thankful the young songbird wasn't around to remember this image of Brett from the Pine Tar Incident:

Here's a video of Lorde's admission courtesy of VH1:

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(Autograph photo by Ted Spiegel, National Geographic)

[MLB.com]