Last week, Prince William was in Monaco for the UEFA Champions League. He watched his beloved Aston Villa lose to AS Monaco. Well, last night he somehow managed to make it to another football game. His wife and children were obviously not invited to join him in Birmingham. I think we’ve finally figured out why we’re getting this flurry of “work events” from Peggy in recent weeks. Someone finally got through to him: you can’t jaunt off to watch football whenever you want if you’re not also doing some work events. I wonder who finally had that “you look like an idiot” conversation with him. Speaking of, the atmosphere at last night’s match was quite chaotic, as Aston Villa was playing the Celtic. Celtic fans are notoriously anti-monarchy, anti-royal, and they have the loud chants to prove it. Those chants were going around the stadium last night:
The Prince of Wales was subjected to chants of “Lizzie’s in a box” and “If you hate the Royal family, clap your hands” by Celtic fans during Aston Villa’s Champions League clash with the Scottish club. Away supporters also displayed a banner in the stands glorifying an intruder who found his way into Queen Elizabeth II’s Buckingham Palace bedroom, days after Prince William was born. The Prince, Villa’s most famous fan, attended Wednesday night’s match and was seen celebrating wildly as the Premier League side raced into a 2-0 lead.
Home supporters were heard singing the national anthem in response to the abuse by Celtic fans, who were also said to have sung about the Prince’s brother, the Duke of Sussex.
The visitors appear certain to face punishment from Uefa, which fined Shamrock Rovers £8,540 a week ago for “transmitting a message that is not fit for a sports event” after their fans chanted “Lizzie’s in a Box” during their Conference League defeat by Chelsea last month.
Celtic fans’ banner about the Buckingham Palace intruder, which read, “Michael Fagan The Prowler”, was displayed barely three years after they celebrated the death of the late Queen with flags reading, “F— the Crown”, and, “Sorry for your loss Michael Fagan”. The club were later fined more than £13,000 by Uefa for breaching its rules during their 1-1 Champions League draw at Shakhtar Donetsk.
The contrasting attitude towards the royal family from Villa and Celtic fans proved a major subplot to Wednesday night’s game, which Villa won 4-2. The national anthem could be heard on the streets of Birmingham, while there were at least three “God Save The King” flags outside Villa Park and a St George’s Cross with a picture of the monarch.
As well as their supporters celebrating the death of the late Queen immediately after her passing, in subsequent Celtic matches chants were heard of, “If you hate the Royal family, clap your hands”, and “Lizzie’s in a box”, as well as, “You can shove your coronation up your a—”, before the following year’s crowning of the King at Westminster Abbey.
I remember some of those chants happening just hours after QEII’s passing in 2022. The fact that they’re still doing “Lizzy’s in a box” in front of Lizzy’s grandson… well, it’s a choice. What were the chants about Harry? Does anyone know? I also remember the EUROS in 2022, I think, when England lost to Italy, and the Italian fans claimed the Duchess of Sussex as their own and even put her on Italian flags. Sometimes football hooligans are so funny.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Getty.
