Loyal and royal: How the future King became a football superfan

In the early hours of Monday morning, like millions of other football fans, the Prince of Wales stayed up in Windsor to watch England's memorable victory over Mexico.

At Forest Lodge, his family home on the Windsor estate, he endured the delayed start, the intense atmosphere of the Azteca Stadium and the nerve-jangling end to the second half when a 10-man England agonisingly clung on to their lead.

He'd watched every other England match too as you'd expect from the Patron of the Football Association. He knows the England set-up well and has been in direct contact with players and staff during the tournament – several England footballers have Prince William's personal phone number.

If England make it to the World Cup final in New Jersey on 19 July, Prince William will fly over as an official representative of the FA and the royal family's most ardent football fan.

And his passion for the game has often been at its most raw on the royal family's social media platforms.

Royal posts can be tame affairs. The usual pattern is a reminder of the day's engagements, a clip of a speech delivered, sometimes an official comment around an event alongside the day's best pictures.

"UTV! VTID" they screamed alongside a red love heart and the muscular arm emoji. For those not in the know, that translates as "Up the Villa" and "Villa Till I Die." Not your typical royal social post.

They were published with a "W" meaning they had come personally from William and were up just minutes after his beloved Aston Villa had won the Europa League final with a convincing 3-0 victory over German side, Freiburg. It was Aston Villa's first European title in 44 years – they won the European Cup in 1982, the year Prince William was born.

He'd been at this year's final in Istanbul with a group of close friends, many from his childhood who share his love for Aston Villa – Ben Dawes, Thomas van Straubenzee and Edward van Cutsem. They have all been regulars at Villa games over the years. It was a family friend who persuaded him to support Aston Villa when he was a teenager.

Prince William's reaction to every goal, caught on the TV coverage of the Europa League final, was unbridled joy, what football fans would call "limbs" – the shouts, the jumping on and hugging of those around you, the uninhibited celebrations.

"He's a classy guy. He was in the dressing room before the game and he's a massive Villa fan, he was never going to miss it and it's great to have his support."

We don't know whether the royal credit card was given an outing during some drinks with the team but Prince William did head to the dressing room for the celebrations after the match.

Sitting a few rows away from their royal supporter were Mat Kendrick and Dan Rolinson who host the Claret and Blue podcast devoted to their love of Aston Villa. It turns out Prince William is a regular listener.

Prince William told them he liked the "good nonsense" of their podcast and said he'd like to appear on it in future.

"Football fans always like to get one up on each other and as celebrity fans go we are doing pretty well because we have the future King of England and also the actor, Tom Hanks," said Mat Kendrick.

It is a real sense of pride for fans who see it as not just a token thing."

Last week, Prince William appeared on New Heights, a podcast hosted by American football player Travis Kelce – now Taylor Swift's husband – and his brother, retired player, Jason. When asked if his father had encouraged him to support Aston Villa, Prince William's reply was clear.

For Queen Elizabeth II, it was always about horseracing as it had been for generations of royals before her. She was a racehorse owner, breeder and a racing fan who, like her grandson William, often revealed a more private side of her personality in her reactions while watching a race.

In 2013, she became the first reigning monarch in 207 years to own a Gold Cup winner at Royal Ascot. Her animated delight at her win was a rare show of emotion from a contained Queen.

For the Princess of Wales, her sport is tennis. She is Patron of the All England Lawn Tennis Club and is a Wimbledon regular. She'll be presenting the winners' trophies this weekend.

And then there is polo – a far more elitist undertaking but loved by the King when he was younger and a sport his sons, Princes William and Harry, used to play regularly. Prince William will be back in the saddle today (Friday) for a charity polo match that has become an important fundraiser for his charities over the years.

In a country with one of the world's greatest professional leagues, where a World Cup can keep an audience of more than nine million people up all night to watch an England game – Prince William's love of football provides him with an immediate connection to huge swathes of the public who share his love of the sport. And his decision to support Aston Villa as a teenager helps too.

"Avoiding say Manchester United or Liverpool, huge global brands, and Arsenal or Chelsea, did make him more relatable," said Gregg Evans, writer for The Athletic and co-author of Waking the Giant, Inside the Rebirth of Aston Villa.

Sharing the suffering and elation of football fans matters in a world where public perceptions of royalty have been tested in recent months. A love of football connects William to the country he will one day reign over in a way polo would not.

"I don't think a 13 or 14-year-old William thought, I know, when I make my pitch to be King in 30 or 40 years I'll prove that I'm a man of the people by going to support Aston Villa," said Mat Kendrick from the Claret and Blue podcast.

And when it comes to bragging rights, there would be none greater for Prince William than watching England win the World Cup for the first time in 60 years as a future King, a patron of the Football Association and a royally devoted football fan.

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