Prince William Recalls Humiliating Experience In His Tribute To A Sports Star
The British royal family are big sports fans. This summer alone, Prince William and Catherine Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, have watched from the stands at Wimbledon with their son, Prince George, and attended the Commonwealth Games with their daughter, Princess Charlotte. The couple also enjoy participating, with Kate reportedly an avid tennis player, per Express, who has also shown off her skills in land yachting, archery, golf, cricket, sailing, skiing, and ping pong over the years.
For his part, William is said to be a great swimmer and enjoys playing water polo, per the royal family website, as well as squash, rugby, and football (soccer to Americans). He and his wife have even competed against one another, engaging in snowball fights in Norway, a hockey shootout in Stockholm, a ping pong match during a visit to Scotland in 2013, and a sailing race in New Zealand in 2014, with Kate winning that match-up. "Kate is a natural athlete, good at all sports, you only have to put a racket in her hand or ask her to play hockey or cricket and she'd do it. She really gets into it," a source recently told The Telegraph.
And the duchess isn't the only woman William has had trouble competing against. It turns out that a matchup with a famous female footballer a decade ago led to an embarrassing moment for the future king.
Jill Scott 'wiped out' Prince William during a charity event
Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, revealed on social media that he suffered an embarrassing moment during a charity event with footballer Jill Scott, who recently announced her retirement. "A pioneer of Women's football and a great team player," Prince William wrote on Twitter. "@jillscottjs8 congratulations on a wonderful career, it's been a pleasure to get to know you." The second in line to the throne then added, "Tiny bit pleased there won't be any more slide tackles during 'friendly' kickabouts..."
Royal fans were confused by that last sentence, until Scott explained on her podcast that 10 years ago, she slipped, slide tackled, and "wiped out" William during a charity event. "The running joke whenever he's seen us was like, 'No yellow cards this tournament Jill,'" she said on her BBC podcast "Jill Scott's Coffee Club," per Hello! Magazine.
Luckily, there are no hard feelings on the duke's part. In fact, William has been a big supporter of Scott's team, the Lionesses, through the years. He filmed a video with his daughter, Princess Charlotte, to wish them team good luck during the Euro finals, and William was on hand to present them with their medals after their win over Germany.