Today, Prince William did a “surprise event” for the Three Lions ahead of Team England’s travel to Qatar for the FIFA World Cup. William headed England’s headquarters to hand out their official team jerseys and wish them good luck ahead of the World Cup. William is president (honorary) of the Football Association, and it’s one of his favorite patronages. He does a lot with FA, and by that I mean William does a handful of events a year, mostly “going to football matches.”
Prince William is the England soccer team’s number one fan! The Prince of Wales, 40, was a surprise guest at the team’s HQ Monday evening ahead of the 2022 men’s World Cup and helped hand out new jerseys to the 26-player squad.
“I’m really here to just kind of point out that the rest of the country’s behind you,” Prince William told the team. “We’re all rooting for you. Enjoy it.”
William, who is President of the Football Association, received an England jersey signed by the entire squad in return.
“What you and Gareth have built here is something special, that’s clear to see,” William added, in reference to the role of England coach Gareth Southgate, who steered the team to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup. “Play for each other, support each other, enjoy it and I’m sure you’ll go far,” he added.
True story, William’s office has let it be known that he’s “too busy” to attend any of England’s World Cup matches. Some have described that as an inelegant excuse to avoid the politics of Qatar hosting the World Cup – Qatar used and abused slave labor to build the stadiums for the World Cup, and Qatar has some draconian anti-LGBTQ laws, which they will enforce on soccer fans. Instead of making a stand against trafficking, slavery or anti-LGBTQ policies, a lazy Peg has merely claimed to have a scheduling conflict when really, he barely manages one event a week. He’s being criticized for making the commitment to be as lazy as possible too.
A special evening at the National Football Centre presenting this exciting @england squad with their shirt numbers for the World Cup! pic.twitter.com/xcL7TrvC8H
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) November 15, 2022
Photos courtesy of Eddie Keogh – The FA / Avalon.
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- BURTON UPON TRENT, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 14: Prince William, Prince of Wales presents an England shirt to Harry Kane of England at St George’s Park on November 14, 2022 in Burton upon Trent, England. *** Local Caption ***,Image: 737683980, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Keogh – The FA / Avalon
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- BURTON UPON TRENT, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 14: Prince William, Prince of Wales presents an England shirt to Raheem Sterling at St George’s Park on November 14, 2022 in Burton upon Trent, England. *** Local Caption ***,Image: 737684042, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Keogh – The FA / Avalon
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- BURTON UPON TRENT, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 14: Prince William, Prince of Wales presents an England shirt to Bukayo Saka at St George’s Park on November 14, 2022 in Burton upon Trent, England. *** Local Caption ***,Image: 737684068, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Keogh – The FA / Avalon
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- BURTON UPON TRENT, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 14: Players of England pose for a photograph with Prince William, Prince of Wales at St George’s Park on November 14, 2022 in Burton upon Trent, England. *** Local Caption ***,Image: 737684099, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Keogh – The FA / Avalon
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- BURTON UPON TRENT, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 14: Prince William, Prince of Wales talks to Jack Grealish of England at St George’s Park on November 14, 2022 in Burton upon Trent, England. *** Local Caption ***,Image: 737684147, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Eddie Keogh – The FA / Avalon
Spineless, hairless, witless joke.
They look so *excited* to be there too.🙄🤮
Shouldn’t their #1 fan know who wears what number without prompting?
This is trending on UK Twitter at no 9 as I type, under “Prince of Wales”, along with “#notmyprince”. Welsh Twitter users in the comments are basically saying he should either give up his patronage of the English FA, or stop being Prince of Wales, as you end up with this situation where the Prince of Wales is openly supporting another national team.
I suppose he could approach the Welsh and Scottish and Northern Irish FA and ask to be patron of them all, but then he’d have to do more work…
Looks like the Welsh patronage is vacant: https://www.faw.cymru/en/news/cydymdeimlo-her-majesty-queen-elizabeth-ii/#:~:text=The%20Football%20Association%20of%20Wales,Her%20Majesty%2C%20Queen%20Elizabeth%20II.
I came to say the same thing – he is being dragged hard over this visit.
I just came here to mention this. The Prince of Pegging effed up yet again and is bringing out the Welsh against him and the monarchy.
He really isn’t liked, is he?
Even with the absurd reverence and PR given to him and his family every single day by the brown-nosing British gutter press, he still brings this kind of criticism upon himself.
I said this before, but the RF opened up a can of worms by using their press attack dogs for a years-long campaign against Harry and Meghan. That campaign basically told the people of the UK that the RF should be subject to the most vilely expressed criticism too. Karma is a delicious bitch.
I will enjoy seeing him forced out of Wales and that absurd title. Part of today’s Twitter criticism includes a petition about this.
Ok, I think all these patronages are just plain stupid. I don’t know if William is actually too busy to attend the World Cup in Qatar, but he should be too busy for it. Football is already the most popular sport in the UK and there’s plenty of advertising for the World Cup.
The thing that gets me the most is all he had to say was he’s not going and let everyone discuss and gossip about his why. Such an idiotic move to say “he’s too busy.”
@Unstrungpearl mentioned #notmyprince is trending. William, the PoW managed to piss off the Welsh (again) with this work visit. https://www.indy100.com/amp/prince-wales-william-england-squad-2658649620
He seems to have upset a lot of Welsh people. I think the Royal Family would have been wise to retire the Prince of Wales title with Charles. They must have known there was opposition amongst Welsh nationalists. Foisting a new POW on Wales without their consent could further drive the nationalism movement.
Okay this is interesting and answers my question below.
Once again, Charles effed up. He thought he could use the grief and sympathy of the nation over the Queen’s death as cover for giving the PoW titles to the Dolittles as soon as possible. But it backfired and the Welsh people are deservedly angry, and William not addressing the Welsh team is just rubbing salt in the wound. This will fuel the nationalism movement for sure.
@Emily: I agree. Charles should have been the last Prince of Wales but I think he gave it to William to keep him on his side.
Does it really have anything to do with Wales or is it that the Duchy of Cornwall with all its assets and income automatically goes to whomever is the Prince of Wales?
All he had to do was give public support to the Welsh team first, and the bad PR could have been somewhat avoided! I get that he’s president of the English FA but surely someone could see this might be an issue?? Those Gold Standard advisors strike again…lol they really are idiots.
I mean, this is fine. This is part of his job, as cushy as it is. He should be actively supporting the England team (the Welsh team as well? I’m not sure how that shakes out loyalty wise, considering he’s the PoW.) This is the kind of thing he should be doing for his patronages, as a bare minimum.
Kate showed support for the English team in the Rugby League World Cup, they lost to Samoa.
Kate also showed support for the English team in the Women’s Rugby World Cup… they lost to New Zealand.
Should the English team going to the FIFA World Cup be nervous having one of the Whails publicly support them? 🤔
No, she was the England – Papau New Guinea game and England won. She hasn’t done very much to promote the Rugby League World Cup overall. I don’t think she was supportive enough of the Women’s Rugby World Cup team. She didn’t even tweet Good Luck to them in the finals or congratulations to New Zealand on their victory. I know the wanted to get rid of Harry but Kate is doing a terrible job.
Kate could never get away with wearing a sweater to a formal event. It makes him look so dowdy.
William should set down as the president of the English FA. He’s the Prince of Wales now and should be Patron of the Welsh team.
“step down”
Who is advising these people? Have they all somehow forgotten that William and Kate are now the Prince and Princess of Wales? All William had to do (and Kate for that matter) was to get something pencilled in and visit the Welsh team. I agree it would have been a hard sell to the Welsh but, at the very least it would have shown he has an interest in the country. I’m at a loss as to why with all their resources how even sending a simple good luck video message was beyond their capabilities. SMH