The Prince of Wales has every reason to fly to the US to watch England play in the World Cup. He is patron of the Football Association, he is a lifelong fan of the sport and he would be in royal company.
Some royal family members turned up at their teams’ matches as early as the group stage (King Felipe of Spain, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, King Abdullah of Jordan, Princess Takamado of Japan and Prince Sverre Magnus and Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway), with further royal appearances at the round of 32 (Prince Daniel and his son Prince Oscar of Sweden) and the quarter-finals (King Philippe of Belgium).
The Dutch royal family even watched Curacao, an autonomous country within the Dutch kingdom.
William, meanwhile, has been restricted to posting messages on social media while limiting his sporting endeavours to a polo match in Windsor and a crazy golf game in Hastings. It means that the British royal family is one of a handful of monarchies not to have supported their teams in person, alongside Morocco, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
What is keeping him away?
One reason is that Prince George has only just finished his final term at Lambrook school, a milestone that William would value. The Princess of Wales was also committed to attend Wimbledon, as patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. William would have considered the charity polo match an important event and he would have faced criticism for flying back and forth over the Atlantic.
But perhaps the key question is a diplomatic one.
Donald Trump has given fulsome praise to other royal families, but his excitement over King Charles and William is at another level. Simon Vigar, a royal commentator and author of The Four Wives of Windsor, told HELLO!‘s Right Royal Podcast that “there would likely be some expectation for [Willam and the President] to meet”.
Simon added: “The President will be asking, ‘Where’s your wife?’ Because we know he’s very taken, he’s a big fan of Catherine. So yes, he would have had to get involved in the diplomatic stuff. It’s complicated.”
William told Travis Kelce’s podcast that he would travel to watch England if they reached the final. For the figurehead of the FA, that would be a minimum.
Simon suggested that William may have missed a trick in missing the quarter-final victory against Norway.
“Maybe this was a time when he should have got on the plane. He is clearly a massive football fan.”
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