To judge from his glum expression, Prince William was not amused.
With a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League at stake, the heir to the throne’s beloved Aston Villa had been toiling for almost an hour against Club Bruges.
William cut a pensive figure up in the posh seats at Villa Park, apparently drawing little solace from either a two-goal cushion from the first leg, which Villa won 3-1, or the numerical advantage conferred by an early red card for the Belgian side.
Gamely sporting a club scarf, the prince’s attempt to enjoy a boys’ night out with childhood friends Edward van Cutsem and Thomas van Straubenzee, godfather to his daughter Princess Charlotte, had not been helped by a couple of decent early chances for Bruges.
And when Villa narrowly failed to convert a first-half free kick, agony was etched on his features.
William is no stranger to vibrant displays of emotion when it comes to supporting the club he has followed since his school days.
Aston Villa’s ultimately convincing Champions victory over Club Bruges in midweek received the royal seal of approval from avid Villa fan Prince William
William, who was spotted wearing a club scarf, looked glum as his team laboured early in the game, but became increasingly animated as Villa closed in on a convincing win
Aston Villa booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals and will face PSG
When Villa returned to the Premier League in May 2019, ending a three-year sojourn in the Championship, the ecstatic prince celebrated wildly, hugging former striker John Carew in the stands.
Similar scenes played out behind the closed doors of Kensington Palace the following year, when Villa avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth with a 1-1 draw at West Ham on the final day of the season.
‘The nerves were the worst I’ve ever known them,’ William later revealed. ‘My children looked at me in horror as I was jumping off the sofa, screaming my head off.
‘It’s very good news that, as president of the FA, I can hide away during some of these moments, that I’m not visibly seen, because it was one of the most stressful moments of my life, as I imagine every Villa fan felt on that day.’
For many, though, William’s refusal to hide emotions familiar to football fans throughout the world is refreshing.
It is a quality that was evident again on Wednesday night as Villa scored the first of three goals that cemented a 6-1 aggregate victory over Bruges, securing a meeting with Paris St Germain in next month’s quarter-finals.
Hopefully the drinks were on the house for William and his friends, for Van Cutsem’s beverage took the brunt of the prince’s jubilation as Villa took another giant stride forwards in a competition they won in 1982 – coincidentally the year William was born – when it was still known simply as the European Cup.
But how exactly did the the London-born prince come to support a club from the West Midlands? The answer speaks of a man who, while he may be the future King, is not averse to going against the grain.
Prince William opened up about the story behind his passion for Aston Villa in a 2015 interview with Gary Lineker for the BBC
William has also discussed the origins of his interest in Aston Villa on Peter Crouch’s podcast
William says his role as President of the Football Association, a function he has fulfilled since 2006, means he sometimes feels obliged to keep a lid on his feelings about Villa
‘A long time ago at school, I got into football, big time,’ William, who first visited Villa Park in November 2013, once explained.
‘I was looking around for a club to support, and all my friends at school were either Manchester United fans or Chelsea fans.
‘I didn’t want to follow the run-of-the-mill teams, I wanted to have a team that was more mid-table, that could give me the more emotional rollercoaster moments.
‘To be honest, now, looking back, that was a bad idea – I could have had an easier time!
‘Aston Villa has always had a great history. I’ve got friends who support Aston Villa and one of the first FA Cup games I went to was Bolton versus Aston Villa, it was a semi-final.
‘It was fantastic, I sat with all the fans with my red beanie on, and I was sat with all the Brummie fans and had a great time.
‘It was the atmosphere, the camaraderie, and I really felt that there was something I could connect with.’
Curiously, William’s interest in the club intensified following a downturn in their fortunes.
Prince William admitted his interest in Aston Villa intensified after their relegation in 2016
Prince William cut a characteristically relaxed figure as he chatted with former Liverpool, Tottenham and Stoke City striker Peter Crouch
William joked in a 2015 interview with Gary Lineker, right, that he would have to check with his wife Catherine to get permission for his son, Prince George, to attend games at Villa Park
Evidently the conversation went well, for Prince George, 11, has been spotted during games at Villa Park on a number of occasions
‘I kept an eye on Villa from then on but didn’t get too involved initially,’ he told the Sun. ‘But Villa being relegated to the Championship in 2016 got me even more interested, strangely.
‘A few years earlier, we’d finished sixth under Martin O’Neill and now we weren’t even in the Premier League. I’m not certain why I became much more interested then, but it might have been due to the rise of the smartphone.
‘I’d grown up looking at Ceefax on the television or the back pages of newspapers, and if you didn’t have those to hand you were a bit out of the loop.
‘But now you can get so much data and follow how your team is doing all the time and there’s so much more discussion and debate. That’s how my passion really increased.’
Despite his evident sense of connection with Villa, becoming the club’s most high-profile supporter has not been without its challenges.
Earlier this year, when he arranged a surprise meeting with a group of eight Villa supporters at a Wetherspoon’s pub in Birmingham New Street station, William revealed that he is a regular if anonymous contributor to online discussion sites.
‘He said he keeps abreast of Villa gossip because he is on all the fans’ forums,’ Steve Jones, one of eight supporters to meet the prince,’ told the Athletic.
‘He goes under different names and he posts on there because that’s how he gets the feeling of what’s going on and what’s the opinion.’
One person from whom William cannot conceal his passion for Villa, however, is his wife Catherine, the Princess of Wales.
William visited the team earlier this week, watching the squad in training from the sidelines and speaking with players Morgan Rogers, above left, and Matty Cash
William arranged a surprise meeting with a group of eight Villa supporters at a Wetherspoon’s pub in Birmingham New Street station earlier this year
Back in 2015, when Gary Lineker mentioned the prospect of William taking his then one-year-old son Prince George to games, William made it clear it would only happen with Catherine’s say-so.
‘I don’t know, I’ve got to pass that past the missus, see how I get away with it,’ he said. ‘At the moment, being only 22 months, it’s a little bit early.’
Prince George, who is now 11, has been spotted at Villa Park with his father several times since then, fulfilling William’s dream that he would one day be able to share his passion for the club with one of his children.
‘He can support whoever he wants, but if he supports Villa it would be fantastic,’ the prince told Lineker, ‘because I’d love to be able to go to the odd match with him in the future.’
As Mike Tindall, the former England rugby international who is married to King Charles’s niece Zara, confirmed last year, that mission has been accomplished.
‘George loves his football,’ said Tindall. ‘He’s passionate about Aston Villa, too. Wherever he is, he’ll sit down and watch that game.’
Like father, like son.
