A former Premier League star went back to his family home and was made a prince in one of football’s strangest ever tales
As a football-obsessed child growing up in Catalonia, ex-Swansea City star Jordi Amat would often hear tales of his family having royal heritage from his grandmother.
For years he ignored her stories as something of myth, or an old wives tale. Deciding to focus on his passion for sport, Amat shone at U17-21 level for Spain, with little knowledge or thought of his ancestral heritage.
Breaking into La Liga and making a name for himself at RCD Espanyol and Rayo Vallecano, he earned a move to the Premier League in 2013. Joining Swansea for £3million, the Spaniard found his home in south Wales, during a four-year stint when he played more than 50 games for the club.
Getting towards the latter stages of his career in 2022 and with his contract with Belgian side K.A.S coming to an end, Amat decided to look beyond Europe for a new challenge. The search led him to jet off to Indonesia – where his life would never be the same again.
It turned out his grandmother’s stories of princehood were true all along, with Amat directly related to Jacob Ponto, the 14th King of Siau and the great great grandson of Manalang Doelag Kansil, who was the 17th Raja of the Sangihe Islands and ruled as the King of Siau for 12 years from 1895.
The 32-year-old said: “I remember her saying ‘You will see when you get older, you will come to Indonesia with me one day’. I eventually found out that she wasn’t joking.
“Some people from the national team call me pangeran, which means prince. Fans also put the pangeran comment on my Instagram posts. It’s great to read these things.”
His grandmother Isje fled the country when she was just eight-years-old, becoming a refugee after a war broke out, before finding a new home in The Netherlands.
Five decades later, Amat was granted citizenship and once arriving in his new home was officially welcomed by the Royal Council where he was given an official title, making him His Royal Highness Prince Jordi Amat Maas.
The centre-back was soon called up to the Indonesian national team and later captained the side in an emotional game under the watchful eyes of his grandmother.
As the captain of Malaysia Super League club Johor Darul Ta’zim, he went on to appear for his country at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup and led Indonesia to reach the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time ever.