Loyal and Royal: How the Future King Became a Football Super Fan

On Monday morning, like millions of football fans, the Prince of Wales stayed in Windsor to watch England’s memorable victory over Mexico.

At Forest Lodge, his family home on the Windsor estate, he endured a slow start, the loud atmosphere of the Azteca Stadium and a nerve-jangling finish in the second half.

As you would expect from a FA fan, he watched every England match. He knows the England set-up well and has been in direct contact with players and staff during the tournament – several England footballers have Prince William’s personal phone number.

When England reach the final in New Jersey on July 19, Prince William will fly in as the FA’s official representative and the royal family’s most ardent football fans.

Never has a royal shown his love for football like Prince William.

And his love for the game is often the most raw on the royal family’s social media platforms.

Royal posts can be tame affairs. A common pattern is a reminder of the day’s participation, a snippet of a spoken word, sometimes an official commentary on an event with the best images of the day.

But on May 20 this year, Prince William’s official accounts were released a bit.

“UTV! VTID,” they shouted alongside a red love heart and muscular arm emoji. For those who don’t know, this means “to the villa” and “villa until death”. Not your typical royal social post.

The ones printed with a “W” came personally from William and minutes later as Aston Villa won the Europa League final 3-0 in Freiburg, Germany. It was Aston Villa’s first European Cup in 44 years – they won the European Cup in 1982, the year Prince William was born.

He was at this year’s Istanbul final with close friends who share his love for Aston Villa since childhood – Ben Dawes, Thomas van Straubenzee and Edward van Cushm. They have all become regulars at Villa games over the years. It was a family friend who convinced him to support Aston Villa as a teenager.