Lionesses are like Diana because they won World Cup in our hearts', says Duchess of York
The Duchess of York has compared the Lionesses to the late Princess Diana because she believed they won the World Cup “in our hearts”.
Speaking on her Tea Talks podcast, the Duchess said she had been “screaming at the television” when watching the England football team’s defeat to Spain.
She said: “These girls did win the World Cup. They won the World Cup in people’s hearts … it’s like Diana, it’s that energy of the magnet to the magic. Every single person … was drawn to the magic of hope.”
The Duchess said she had been particularly inspired by the players’ back stories, such as the fact that Mary Earps, the goalkeeper, used to work part-time in a toy shop.
She said: “All the girls - one worked in a toy shop, one was serving behind the till, all these incredible Lionesses that all fought their way when everyone said ‘don’t be ridiculous, you can’t possibly do this’.
“So I don’t believe it’s about the finals and who won, it’s about the belief that they did this. Mary Earps, she saved that goal, you know.
“But then, if you have the wonderful Olga Carmona who, I can’t get over it, her father - she got the goal and she won for Spain and then her father died. So what is winning - it’s the belief that you can.”
Carmona, who scored the winning goal against England, only learned of her father’s death from cancer after the final.
Diana Princess of Wales famously referred to herself as a “queen of people’s hearts” in a Panorama interview in 1995.
The Duchess also spoke on the podcast, which she co hosts with Sarah Thomson, about meeting Margaret Thatcher when she was prime minister.
She said she had been in awe of Mrs Thatcher to the point where she lost her voice.
She recalled: “My throat kept rumbling, because I think my voice wanted to say so much but it couldn’t get it out, because I was so in awe of her, and I wanted to talk to her all about how she managed to come from Grantham to be prime minister.
She said she could still be overwhelmed by meeting celebrities such as Cher or Robbie Williams, adding: “I still do it. With my wonderful ex-mother in law, I still used to drive down the drive and absolutely want the gravel to be quiet and stop making such a noise so I could go in quietly, and I wanted the corgis not to bark at me, I wanted to go in quietly and slip in because I was always so nervous.”
