Go on, my son! Fans William and George are dead ringers at an Aston Villa thriller
THEY may be gearing up for the Coronation but the King’s eldest grandson and his dad were indulging in another Royal tradition yesterday – supporting Aston Villa.
Football-mad Prince George was in the stands at Villa Park in Birmingham alongside his father, the Prince of Wales, for the team’s Premier League victory over Nottingham Forest.
And the second-in-line to the throne proved a chip off the old block, mirroring William’s spirited reactions with a series of typical football fan expressions of his own.
Wearing a navy blue jumper and pale blue open-necked shirt to match his father, nine-year-old George put on an animated display, clutching his hands to the side of his face during one close call.
The game was goalless at halftime and the young prince was deep in conversation with William as he pointed at the pitch.
But when Villa scored three minutes into the second half, George was ecstatic, leaping from his seat
‘He leapt to high-five people around him’
to high-five those around him, including Villa’s chief executive Christian Purslow.
The pair were joined by William’s old friend Edward van Cutsem, 49, who was a page boy at Charles and Diana’s wedding and whose family once rented Anmer Hall, the Cambridges’ former home on the Sandringham estate. England manager Gareth Southgate was also nearby, and saw Villa win 2-0.
William, who is President of the Football Association, has supported Villa since he was 11.
The Wales family are now all Villa fans and it is not the first time George has joined William at a game.
In October 2019, when he was six, George was pictured enthusiastically celebrating a 5-1 Villa win with William, his mother Kate and sister Charlotte.
He joined his parents at Wembley in 2021 to watch England beat Germany 2-0 in the Euros, and was also there to see their devastating loss in the final to Italy on penalties.
George is set to play a key role at his grandfather’s Coronation next month when he serves as one of eight Pages of Honour during the ceremony.