England’s king-in-waiting, Prince William, certainly hopes football will be coming home.
It is no secret that the Prince of Wales is a big soccer fan. He served as president of England’s Football Association from 2006 to 2024 and is a longtime Aston Villa supporter, having followed the Birmingham club since his schooldays.
Despite his passion for the sport, Kensington Palace confirmed to POLITICO that “the Prince of Wales will only attend the World Cup if England make it to the final.” A royal aide said he will likely watch tonight’s semifinal with his family.
His younger brother Harry, who has traditionally shown more interest in rugby than soccer, will not attend any World Cup matches in person, even though he has lived in the U.S. since relocating there with his wife, Meghan Markle, in 2020.
According to Harry’s spokesperson, he has commitments elsewhere in the country on either side of the World Cup final, preventing him from attending, should England reach the showpiece game.
While the British royals cheer England on away from public view tonight, another European royal family with skin in the game will be supporting their opponents: Argentina.
Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, who married the future King Willem-Alexander in 2002, was born in Argentina. Speaking on the podcast “Through the Eyes of the King” in 2023, Willem-Alexander revealed that before their marriage, the couple agreed they would both support the Netherlands whenever the Dutch played Argentina.
In return, he said, “I did stipulate that if Argentina were playing and it wasn’t against the Netherlands, then I would always cheer for Argentina.”
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