bitchy | Mail: Prince William’s single-minded Aston Villa obsession is a good thing, actually!

This week, Prince William and his son George went to Paris for the Champions League quarterfinal between Aston Villa and PSG. It did not go well for Aston Villa, but William continues to worship everything about the team. He even did a TV interview about his love of football and the team ahead of the game. Ever since he was forced out as Football Association President, he’s been spending much more time (in the public sphere) stanning for Aston Villa and attending their games and spending hours on Aston Villa online forums. Often to the exclusion of, you know, royal work. In typical British fashion, people are working overtime to royalsplain why it’s a good thing that William will walk a hundred miles for Aston Villa but won’t walk three steps for a charity.

Aston Villa have a trump card to play when they try to turn the tables on Paris Saint-Germain next week. Standing at 6ft 3in, he has the build of a centre-forward and football knowledge to rival that of the greatest managers. The Prince of Wales cannot be part of Unai Emery’s starting XI, but he will attempt to be their 12th man as Villa seek a performance for the ages to take them into the Champions League semi-finals.

Prince William has good relations with several Villa players, particularly Tyrone Mings, and has been known to address the squad before major matches; notably the 2020 League Cup final, when Villa were huge underdogs but were only just edged out 2-1 by Manchester City. An uplifting speech before the second leg of the quarter-final at Villa Park on Tuesday could be exactly what is needed, particularly with Villa trailing 3-1 to an accomplished PSG side after a difficult first act in Paris.

As well as attending nearly all of Villa’s European fixtures this season, the Prince occasionally visits the club’s Bodymoor Heath training ground. The heir to the throne could never be simply one of the lads but he is genuinely popular with the squad.

‘We hear from him quite a bit,’ said Villa defender Matty Cash after the Prince had watched the 1-0 victory over Zrinjski Mostar in the Europa Conference League in October 2023. ‘He comes to training sessions. He speaks to us like a normal guy and we treat him that way when he comes.

‘He likes to be around the lads because he is a massive Villa fan. He knows our names and our nicknames, everything. He is a proper supporter who loves coming to Villa Park. Tyrone speaks to him quite a bit, I think.’

It says everything that William dashed north for a group fixture against a club from Bosnia and Herzegovina in Europe’s third-tier competition. Anybody can attend the big Champions League games against Bayern Munich or PSG but far fewer would choose to spend their Thursday nights watching their side slog it out against a club many supporters had never heard of.

Those who live in the public eye often crave the anonymity the rest of us take for granted and football appears to be the Prince’s outlet. He has admitted posting on Villa message boards (under a pseudonym, of course), met fans for a pint in Wetherspoons en route to their match at Everton in January, and expresses opinions only the true football nut would have.

[From The Daily Mail]

I’ve often described William as the most passion-free royal I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t enjoy literature, he has no interest or passion for history, he doesn’t watch many movies (pretty awful for the BAFTA president), he’s not interested in anything cultural or pop-cultural, he’s not interested in humanitarian causes, he’s too illiterate to even skim his briefing memos and clearly, he does everything he can to avoid work. But he does have this passion or obsession with Aston Villa. I don’t think it’s some kind of PR move to make William appear more blokeish, more “relatable common man.” It’s genuine. He genuinely spends a good deal of time obsessing over his favorite team, attending their games, and discussing team gossip online, to the exclusion of everything else. The future king won’t read his state papers because user “Aston Peggington” is too busy arguing with fans online.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid.