Scotland’s rugby team enjoyed royal support as they took on Ireland at the World Cup in France. The Princess Royal was on hand to see the team’s dreams of progressing in the tournament falter as they lost 36-14 to arguably the best side in the world right now.
Embed from Getty ImagesPrincess Anne was seen in the stands spotting sunglasses at times and wearing her Doddie Weir Foundation Scarf. The foundation is in honour of Doddie Weir OBE, a Scottish rugby union player who lost his life to Motor Neuron Disease in November 2022. The foundation works to continue his legacy and fund research into this, as yet, incurable disease.
This marked the first 2023 Rugby World Cup match attended by the Princess this year although both the Prince and Princess of Wales have been at games so far. Both of them may return as Wales, of which Prince William is patron, and England, which counts the Princess as patron, are both through to the quarter finals. Wales is set to play the Runner-Up Pool D on Saturday 14 October at Stade de Marseille. Meanwhile, England will play the Runner-Up Pool C on Sunday, 15 October at the same venue.
The Princess has been patron of Scottish Rugby for 37 years. As she revealed on the podcast, The Good, The Bad & The Rugby with her son-in-law Mike Tindall, it was all by accident.
“They asked me to go and open the East Stand when it was built, at about two weeks’ notice because they’d been let down. I can’t remember who by. And as it happened, the horse was lame, so I wasn’t competing at that weekend. So I went, and about a month later, they wrote and asked me if I’d like to become patron. An accident. I don’t know. They’re happy with that, but.”
For those interested in watching the full episode also featuring the Prince and Princess of Wales, it can be found here. The Rugby World Cup France 2023 Final will be played on Saturday 28 October At Stade de France, Saint-Denis.
