King's message to the England squad

[Uricon2]

"My wife and I join all our family in wishing you the warmest congratulations on reaching the final of the U.E.F.A. European Championship - and in sending our very best wishes for Sunday’s match.

If I may encourage you to secure victory before the need for any last minute wonder-goals or another penalties drama, I am sure the stresses on the nation’s collective heart rate and blood pressure would be greatly alleviated!

Good luck, England.

Charles R"

I think it's great and interesting to see more personality and humour coming through in a message like this.

Jeez this place gets worse and worse. A light-hearted good luck message to a football team has descended into an argument about food banks. Good stuff, good stuff.

Exactly - well said.

This is the Royal Family board, which strangely enough has threads about the RF, some critical, some not. You are of course as much at liberty to comment on it as anyone else, but perhaps you could avoid future irritation by hiding it. Just a thought.

As far as the virtue signalling goes, you have no idea what anyone else posting here is going through. Suffice it to say, the message to the England team made me smile a bit this morning in a week that has not exactly been packed with joy.

Why are some posters commenting as if he’d written to Gareth Southgate with his in-depth tactical advice on formations and substitutions? I can’t imagine how thin-skinned you’d have to be as a professional sportsperson to feel patronised by someone stating the bleeding obvious in what is clearly intended as lighthearted encouragement!

You know when he goes to MI5 headquarters for the regular briefings? On the way down to the subterranean secure level the lift operator has been explaining the offside rule, and on the way up they share opinions on VAR.

One is reminded of Julie Burchill's idea of hell 4 drunken fat blokes in a car on the way to a football match talking crap. All this synthetic alcohol and drug fueled anger at watching overpaid prima donnas kick a ball about for 90 minutes. No thanks.

Doesn't it though. The King would have been criticised if he hadn't sent a good luck message. He sent a nice, light hearted message, including a joke that anyone who enjoys sport would understand, and some posters get the snots.

He's not giving expert advice, not being patronising, he's just reflecting the feelings of the vast majority of football fans. He's definitely caught the zeitgeist on this one.

I think it's meant to be tongue in cheek?🙄

Hopefully the Duke of Edimburgh will do the right thing and support Spain.

It's not the virtue Olympics, its just a light hearted post about England in the euro final. Get a grip

5Live, Match Of The Day and the entire industry of punditry explodes. Pouff.

And all the blokes in pubs and clubs and on buses and betting shops and sidelines and terraces and social media.

The players have been singing the national anthem beautifully. In stark contrast to the failing drinker-shaggers of the 90s who merely flapped their mouths. Southgate strikes me as a man who has instilled pride in his team and a love of their country.

And my teenage son, who is the best football tactician in the cosmos on the sofa.

Everyone's an expert

All you hear is how formal and stuffy the RF are.

Then when it's reported the King wrote a funny message they are wrong for being humerous.

We really are a country of miserable gits where you can't do right for wrong 😂

My friends grandson, who is in goal for the local under 12s, has been very, very vocal with his tactical opinions, apparently.

Punditry is as much a national sport as football.

It is indeed - it's half the reason we watch! My favourite morning after a game pass-time is watching the Youtube pundits. One of them was having the biggest whinge about the decision to bring on Ollie Watson instead of Ivan Toney, a diatribe only interrupted by Watson scoring. It was a thing of great beauty watching him (joyously) eat his words.

It's only 5 minutes ago that the Sussex fans and so-called republicans were criticising William for not flying to Australia to watch England Women in the final of the World Cup. Now Charles sending a message is giving them the vapours. I am sensing a bit of disingenuousness.

The sport of the working class, the heart and soul of many working class communities, the pathway out of poverty for many working class boys and girls, a chance for kids from the black community in particular to become superstars. 4 out of 5 of our penalty takers against Switzerland were black. Teams like France fielding all black teams, against the backdrop of a country gripped by ultra right wing politics. Teams like Switzerland fielding multi cultural teams for the first time and being all the stronger for it, showing immigration as a success story rather than a political ignition point. Footballers like Alex Scott and Marcus Rashford passing it on and looking out for the next generation. Football is one of the few elite level sports that is full of men and women from humble backgrounds. Shame on this post.

I was thinking that.

Why would someone have such a problem with a team fielding players like Bellingham, Saka, Toney, Watkins? With a sport that gave a platform to Rashford and Scott?

Odd.

Crikey. How miserable are you 😂

Thank you for that @Mymilkshakebringsallthepapstomycar . Beautifully put and so very true.

Yes.

King makes no comment about England being in the Euro 24 final, it would be criticised (loudly)

King makes dry good luck statement, it would be criticised.

King makes good luck statement with the addition of a joke about how nerve racking matches are for fans, it is criticised.

Impossible not to conclude King cannot win with some, whatever he does.

No way did Charles write that himself. He has never shown the slightest interest in football before. Or in cricket, golf, tennis or any other sport which doesn’t involve a horse or a gun.

My assumption is that the statement was William’s idea, it was drafted by a PR person and Charles approved it.