The Princess of Wales found a way to keep her children entertained while Prince William watched Aston Villa compete live: she let them stay up late to watch, too.
At the second Buckingham Palace garden party—hosted by William and Catherine and accompanied by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and Zara Tindall—Catherine said that her children had wanted to go with William to the match, but she compromised and let them watch it on television.
And it seems that the Wales children have inherited William’s boisterous way of watching sports matches and celebrating their wins. Catherine told a guest, “They all make so much noise, even Louis.”
William was spotted in the stands cheering as Aston Villa beat Nottingham Forest 4-0 in their semi-final Europa League match. The future king’s favourite football team hasn’t won a major trophy in 30 years, and William could be overheard telling garden party guests that he had bags under his eyes from being in Birmingham late the night before.
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Catherine also shared how the family’s new puppy, Otto, is getting along. She revealed that he’s been chewing a lot, and said that “You have to keep them busy. The first thing we do in the morning is check, ‘Has anyone taken Otto out?’”
To representatives of the Lawn Tennis Association, Catherine shared how she enjoys playing padel, saying “it’s such a good game, such a great leveller for those who don’t play tennis.”
The second of Buckingham Palace’s garden parties featured guests from many charities and organisations associated with William and Catherine in addition to military guest and other notable people. In total, 8,000 guests mingled at the palace.
The royal couple chatted with Leanne Lucas, a Southport teacher who was critically injured shielding students from a knife attack last year that left three children dead. William praised her courage and bravery, and Lucas told reporters afterwards that it had been like “meeting old friends again.
“We had such personal conversations last time we met. William wanted to keep an eye on my wellbeing, as well as chat about all the knife crime campaigning we’re doing.”
Speaking of meeting Catherine again, Lucas said that the future queen “said she was so happy to see me full of energy and passion and enthusiasm again and it’s so nice to see you back to the way that you should be and the way that you were before. It was nice.”
