PRINCE William has been a fan of sport all of his life and has attended numerous big events over the years.
The Prince of Wales has been present for huge rugby matches, is patron of the Welsh Rugby Union, has been known to attend Wimbledon finals and big events during the 2012 London Olympics.
Prince William is regularly spotted at matches at Aston Villa
But his true sporting passion lies with football.
He is a FA president and regularly attends England matches.
And this winter he’ll be watching on as the FIFA World Cup returns in Qatar.
But who will the heir to the throne be supporting?
Who is Prince William supporting at the World Cup?
Prince William has joked he is supporting both England and Wales in their World Cup 2022 campaigns.
However, he gave the England team a send off before they headed off to Qatar, telling them: “The rest of the country is behind you, we are all rooting for you. Enjoy it.”
But as his royal title is the Prince of Wales, his words have caused a bit of controversy, mostly with Welsh actor Michael Sheen.
Sheen tweeted: “He (Prince William) can, of course, support whoever he likes and as President of the FA his role makes visit understandable – but surely he sees holding the title Prince of Wales at the same time is entirely inappropriate? Not a shred of embarrassment? Or sensitivity to the problem here?”
Prince William has also said: “I’m telling everyone I’m supporting both, definitely. I can’t lose.
“I’ve supported England since I’ve been quite small. But I support Welsh rugby and that’s my way of doing it.
“I happily support Wales over England in the rugby so I’ve got to be able to play carefully with my affiliations.
“I worry otherwise if I suddenly drop England to support Wales then that doesn’t look right for the sport either. So I can’t do that.”
Prince William was at Aston Villa’s playoff victory against Derby County, where he watched the game with former striker John Carew
What club does Prince William support?
You would be wrong in thinking that William supports the team his dad, King Charles, does.
Charles supports Burnley. But when William was younger, he decided to go a different route.
William supports Aston Villa and has been present at plenty of their games over the past two decades.
Explaining his reasoning for supporting Villa, he said that he didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of schoolmates who all chose to support Manchester United or Chelsea.
Prince William said: “A long time ago at school I got into football big time. I was looking around for clubs.
“All my friends at school were either Manchester United fans or Chelsea fans and 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 more emotional rollercoaster moments.
“Aston Villa’s always had a great history. I have got friends of mine who support Aston Villa and one of the first FA Cup games I went to was Bolton v Aston Villa back in 2000. Sadly, Villa went on to lose to Chelsea.
“It was fantastic, I sat with all the fans with my red beanie on, and I 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.
“People like Paul Merson were playing and I thought if people like him can play as well as he does, knowing the struggles he was under at the time…this is a club I can support.
“I was also born in ‘82, the year we won the (European) Cup, so I feel the history and pedigree around Villa has always been quite close to me.”
Prince William supported Wales during the 2015 Rugby World Cup when they beat England at Twickenham
Which international rugby team does William support?
When it comes to the oval ball, the Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge backs Wales.
He is patron of the Welsh Rugby Union and is regularly seen at major international fixtures.
During the 2015 Rugby World Cup, when England and Wales played each other in the same pool, he was wearing a red Welsh jersey at Twickenham, while Harry wore a white English shirt.
Wales won the match 28-25 and the Red Rose were dumped out of their home World Cup a few days later.
