Prince William has opened up about his love of football in a new interview with BBC Sport commentator Gary Lineker - and revealed it may be some time before Prince George attends his first football match. When questioned on when the father-son milestone might be, William said: "I don’t know, I’ll have to pass that by the missus, see how I can get away with it!"
"At the moment, being only 22 months, it’s a little bit early."
Royal fans will no doubt be tickled by William's use of the word "missus" to describe his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, whom he usually refers to as "Catherine" in formal interviews.
© Photo: BBCPrince William and Gary Lineker pose with the FA Cup
The interview, William's first broadcast interview since the birth of his daughter Princess Charlotte on 2 May, will be aired on Saturday ahead of the FA Cup final between the Prince's beloved Aston Villa and the current FA Cup holders, Arsenal. During his conversation with Gary, a former England footballer, William also revealed how he came to be a fan of Aston Villa.
"A long time ago, at school, I'd just got into football big time," said William. "I was looking round for clubs to support and all my friends at school were either Man U fans or Chelsea fans.
"I didn't really want to follow the run of the mill teams, and I wanted to have a team that was more middle of the table, that could give me the more emotional rollercoaster moments – to be honest, now looking back, that was a bad idea. I could have had an easier time!!"
The interview was filmed at Kensington Palace, and 32-year-old William also joked George and Charlotte can support whichever team they like, "but if he supports Villa, it'd be fantastic".
© Photo: PAPrince William training with England footballer Michael Owen in 2013
He continued: "I'd love to go to the odd match with him in the future. It'll probably end up being that Charlotte is the Villa fan, and George will go and support someone else!"
William is the President of the Football Association, and he candidly talked to Gary about the big issues he believes need to be changed with the game: "There's a number of things that could do with being changed. I'd like to see racism stamped out for starters – in all competitions.
"I think, domestically we're very good at it, and we're a lot better to be than we used to be, and actually I think we're now a leading light in it. There's still much more to do, but I think we're very good. I think the rest of Europe probably and the world have some catching up to do."
To see the full interview, tune into the BBC's live FA Cup Final coverage from 12.10pm this Saturday on BBC One.
