Prince William today jokingly passed on some advice from his son Prince Louis to the England men’s football squad to ‘eat twice as much as you normally would’.
The Prince of Wales spoke to the team after meeting manager Gareth Southgate this morning to wish them all the best ahead of the Euro 2024 tournament.
William visited St George’s Park, the national training ground in Burton-upon-Trent, to pass on a message of good luck to the 26 players and present them with shirts.
The Prince, who is president of the Football Association, was welcomed to the home of England football by Southgate before the team’s first match this Sunday.
He joked that Louis’s advice was to ‘eat twice as much as you normally would’, after asking his children on the school run this morning what he should tell the team.
Prince William meets England manager Gareth Southgate at St George’s Park this morning
Southgate also spoke to William about how the squad is preparing for the tournament, which begins on Friday, ahead of their Group C opener against Serbia.
William told the group that he was ‘thinking on the way here what would I say today’ and ‘what could I offer to all of you’ and ‘what could I say that could help’.
He added: ‘I was on the school run this morning with the children and said ‘what should I say to the England team when I see them today’.
‘The best bit advice I got was to eat twice the amount you normally would eat.
‘So I’m now having visions of all of you running around with massive great tummies and loads of stitches on the pitch. So I think maybe take my youngest’s advice with a pinch of salt.’
William speaks to the England team next to boss Gareth Southgate at St George’s Park today
The Prince also shook hands with Southgate, remarking how ‘in a few hours’ the squad was ‘getting ready to go’ and head to Germany.
To further mark the team’s send off, schools from across the Midlands have also been invited to St George’s Park to attend a football tournament.
Children will play friendly fixtures against each other – with William and Southgate dropping in during the tournament to watch and meet some of those taking part.
William is a passionate Aston Villa fan who often takes his son Prince George to see games – including a handful of times over the past season.
The England men reached the final of Euro 2020 only to lose on penalties to Italy, while they were eliminated by France in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.