The English men’s national soccer team is headed to the next step in the UEFA European Championship tournament, which was particularly exciting to fan Prince William.
William, 42, stepped out at the Saturday, July 6, match-up between England and Switzerland. After a nail-biting tie, England beat Switzerland 5-3 in penalties. The U.K. squad will advance to the semifinals.
The Prince of Wales watched the game from a private box, sporting a navy suit with a coordinating tie. He was seen applauding, high-fiving other attendees and screaming after England scored their final goal.
William has long been an impassioned soccer fan with a special loyalty to the Aston Villa team.
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“I do like the values and the ethos of the club,” William previously said on “That Peter Crouch Podcast” in July 2020. “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.”
William shares sons Prince George, 10, and Prince Louis, 6, and daughter Princess Charlotte, 9, with wife Princess Kate Middleton but isn’t forcing his Aston support onto the kids.
“I’m letting [them] choose [their] own way,” William, who’s taken George and Charlotte to many England games through the years, added. “It’s about finding what fits for him.”
William also supports his kids’ interests, recently accompanying his eldest kids to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert at London’s Wembley Stadium last month. William, George and Charlotte also got a chance to meet Swift, 34, and her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, backstage.
“[William] was the coolest motherf–ker,” Kelce, 34, gushed during a June episode of his “New Heights” podcast. “He was so cool. I didn’t realize this because obviously we’re backstage meeting him because he was there with little George and Charlotte, and they were an absolute delight to meet.”
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He continued, “[I] wasn’t sure if I was supposed to, like, bow to them, curtsy, just be an American idiot and shake their hand.”
Swift and Kelce also joined the royals for a special selfie, which also served as the couple’s social media debut.
William then took his kids up to a VIP box for the concert, which fell on his 42nd birthday, and danced the night away. In now-viral footage, William was seen enthusiastically shimmying during “Shake It Off.”
Kate, 42, — alongside son Louis — did not attend the concert amid her cancer battle. The Princess of Wales confirmed her diagnosis in March and has since resigned from her public duties to undergo treatment.
