Prince William enjoyed a sporty day out at the FA Cup Finals on Saturday, May 17.
William, 42, dressed smartly in a navy suit as he watched the matchup between Crystal Palace and Manchester City at London’s Wembley Stadium on Saturday. After Crystal Palace toppled their opponents 1-0 to take home their first-ever major trophy, William greeted the players and coaches on the field to offer his congratulations.
The Prince of Wales is a noted soccer fan, even bringing 11-year-old son Prince George to the FA Finals last year. While William loves supporting the Aston Villa club in particular, he wouldn’t push George or younger kids Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6, to follow in his footsteps. (William shares his three children with wife Princess Kate Middleton.)
“I’m letting [George] choose his own way [and a team to support]. It’s about finding what fits for him. … I do like the values and the ethos of the club,” William said on “That Peter Crouch Podcast” in July 2020, referring to his support of Aston Villa. “I want them to look after the players and set a good example to the young fans. I want our children, when they go to the match, to come away loving what they’ve seen, enjoying it and seeing their role models behave in a way that we’d all want them to.”
While Kate, 43, and their three children were seemingly absent on Saturday, they also get passionate about watching soccer games.
“If I’m home alone with the children, I probably don’t have the pre-match pint, but I do have a bit of superstition about where I sit when I’m watching them,” William quipped in a March interview with The Sun. “If we’re not doing very well, I start moving ‘round the house quite quickly and I put the children in different positions hoping that’s going to change our luck.”
William also stressed that he wasn’t putting pressure on George, Charlotte and Louis to pick their allegiances.
“I’m kind of hoping they’ll all find their own teams in time,” the prince said earlier this year. “I’m trying not to be biased but obviously they see how passionate I am about it, and they watch the matches with me. I’m trying to spread the love a little bit.”
Prince William is an unabashed Aston Villa fan, but you won’t see him engaging in any hooligan behavior in the stands — especially when Prince George is with him. The Prince of Wales, 42, took in his soccer team’s match against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, April 9, with his 11-year-old son. Beforehand, he spoke with […]
William’s FA Cup outing comes on the heels of lingering family drama. William and his father, King Charles III, have been estranged from Prince Harry in recent years. (Charles, 76, shared his sons with late ex-wife Princess Diana.)
Harry, 40, and wife Meghan Markle stepped down from their duties as senior working royals in 2020, settling in Montecito, California, with their two children. The decision sparked tension with his relatives across the pond, which continued to heighten during Harry’s fight to restore his government-funded security in England. (He lost his most recent appeal earlier in May.)
As a result, a source recently claimed to Us Weekly that William and Kate won’t give Harry and Meghan, 43, “the time of day.”
“William is more hurt than anything else,” the source exclusively told Us. “The first step is to stop talking to the public about private matters. They don’t see a path forward until Harry can stay quiet.”
