- England v Denmark at Euro 2024 is on Thursday, June 20 with a 5pm kick-off
Prince William will attend England’s Euro 2024 match against Denmark at the Frankfurt Arena in Germany on June 20, Kensington Palace confirmed today.
The visit by the Prince of Wales, who is the president of the Football Association, comes after he met the England team during a visit to St George’s Park on Monday.
MailOnline understands William will not be joined by any of his children, while his wife Kate is likely to remain at home in Windsor as her cancer treatment continues.
On Monday, England captain Harry Kane said he expected William would be in touch with the squad during the tournament and planned to fly over to support them.
Now, the palace has confirmed this in a statement saying: ‘The Prince of Wales, president of the Football Association, will attend the UEFA Euro 2024 group stage match between England and Denmark at Frankfurt Arena on Thursday 20th June.’
The heir to the throne – who turns 42 the day after – was criticised last year for failing to attend the England women’s World Cup football final against Spain in Sydney.
It was the first time the Lionesses had reached a World Cup final, and the first time an England football team had competed in a World Cup final since the men in 1966.
With the fixture taking place on a school night, the Waleses’ children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Louis – are not expected to accompany him.
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William will not be at England’s first match of the tournament – against Serbia – in person on Sunday, but he will undoubtedly be glued to the TV, watching the game.
Meanwhile, the King and former England captain David Beckham were heard discussing England’s chances in the tournament yesterday evening.
Referring to the squad’s 1-0 loss to Iceland on Friday in their final warm-up friendly, Charles, attending the King’s Foundation awards, asked: ‘What was all that at Wembley?’
Beckham replied: ‘I don’t think we should read much into it.’
Charles said: ‘It doesn’t really matter does it? It was a warming up sort of thing. You don’t want to expend it all in one go at the beginning.’
Reassuring the King, Beckham said ‘we’ll be ready, Gareth will be ready’ to which Charles gave the former footballer a thumbs up.
William sent personal messages to the Lionesses last summer after their heartbreaking 1-0 defeat in the World Cup final, but stayed at home to watch the match in Norfolk.
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Veteran broadcaster Jon Sopel suggested it was ‘inconceivable’ that William and the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would not have travelled to Australia if the men’s team had been playing, while former England goalkeeper Pauline Cope branded it a ‘shame’ the prince was not there in person.
Speaking on Monday, Kane said of William: ‘He loves it. I think he’s going to try to get out for some games if possible if the schedule allows. He’s a big football fan.
‘I think he’s made that pretty clear watching Aston Villa and watching England now. He’ll be watching them.
‘His kids are obviously big fans as well, now. They’ll remember their first, second tournament as I did when I was younger.
‘He’ll be in touch, especially with the manager and some of the players and making sure that we’re doing a good job.’
Kane was speaking after William visited the team at St George’s Park to wish them good luck, sharing advice from Prince Louis to ‘eat twice the amount’ during their bid for Euro 2024 glory.
William travelled to England’s national football centre in Burton upon Trent to meet the squad and head coach Gareth Southgate.
In a speech to the players, the Prince said: ‘I was on the school run this morning with the children and I said ‘What shall I say to the England team today?’.
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‘The best bit of advice I got to ask you was to eat twice the amount you normally would eat.
‘So I then had 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.’
Kane jokingly said of the advice from Louis: ‘We’ve got to be careful with that one. I don’t think our nutritionist will be happy with that.’
Heir to the throne William was there to present shirts to each of the 26 players selected for the Euro 2024 team and hear from Southgate about their preparations for the tournament.
The Prince shook hands with Southgate, remarking how ‘in a few hours’ the squad was ‘getting ready to go’ and head to Germany.
The Prince told the whole squad he ‘will be watching every single game’ in the Euros tournament.
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William said: ‘Tournament football is a big deal. All of you have had fantastic seasons, I’ve seen every single one of you play this season.
‘As some of you know way better than anyone else in this room, tournament football is brutal. It requires a lot more than you’ve already given.
‘It’s going to be difficult, it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be challenging, it’s going to be everything that you ever dreamed of wearing that England shirt
‘You’re a unit, you fight for each other, you play for each other’.
England, who were beaten 1-0 by Iceland in their final warm-up friendly last Friday, are preparing for their Group C opener against Serbia this Sunday.
Schoolchildren from across the Midlands were invited to St George’s Park to attend a festival of football featuring friendly fixtures, to mark England’s send-off.
William is a passionate Aston Villa fan who often takes his son Prince George to see games – including a European game in April when they were seen with Tyrone Mings.
The England men’s team reached the final of Euro 2020 only to lose on penalties to Italy. They were eliminated by France in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.
The Euro 2024 tournament begins in Germany on Friday as Scotland take on the hosts in Munich in their first group stage match, kicking off at 8pm UK time.