Prince William enjoys solo night out at the football on Princess Charlotte's birthday – photos
Prince William has headed to Aston Villa after celebrating the birthday of his daughter, Princess Charlotte, with the Prince of Wales being spotted in the crowd as the Birmingham-based club took on Greek team Olympiacos F.C.
The Prince of Wales is a known supporter of the Premier League team and was there to back the club for the first leg of the UEFA Europa Conference League's semi-final. The heir to the throne was seen in the director's box and roared with happiness when his side scored against the Greek football club.
Although his son Prince George has previously joined his father at sporting events, including at the quarter-finals of the Europa League, the young royal was not with William on this occasion.
The Prince will no doubt have had a stressful first half of the match with Olympiacos scoring two goals in the opening 30 minutes, before Aston Villa started pulling back and equalised in the second half. However, the result was ultimately disappointing for William with the Greek-based team winning 4-2.
The Prince and Princess of Wales marked their daughter Charlotte's birthday in private withKate still recovering from cancer and an abdominal surgery. However, the royal couple did share the sweetest image of their young girl to mark her ninth birthday.
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The portrait, which was captured by Kate in Windsor, featured the youngster smiling at the camera and casually posing outside next to a clematis plant with pink petals. Charlotte sported a burgundy cardigan over a floral shirt and a navy knit and a denim skirt and wore her long locks loose over her shoulders.
A caption read: "Happy 9th Birthday, Princess Charlotte! Thank you for all of the kind messages today."
Like her siblings, Charlotte has been making more public appearances over the past few years, including the state funeral of her great-grandmother, the late Queen, and the coronation of her grandfather, King Charles.
Charlotte has also shown a keen interest in sports joining her parents when they visited the Commonwealth Games and Wimbledon. Like her brother and father, the young royal is known to be a keen football fan, even recording a message of support for the Lionesses ahead of the Euros final.
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In the video, William said: "We both want to wish the Lionesses the best of luck for tonight. "You’ve done amazingly well in the competition and we are rooting for you all the way." His daughter then added: "Good luck, I hope you win. Bye."
