Even with England closer than its ever been to winning its second World Cup, the Prince of Wales will not be present to see them take on Argentina tomorrow.
According to The Royal Observer, Prince William of England has sparked some backlash at home over not attending. The prince is a patron of England's Football Association (the FA) and previously spent years serving as the organization's president. He is a diehard soccer fan and can often be seen cheering on Aston Villa F.C. in the stands.
Per Royal commentator Daniel Elser, Prince William has instead been visiting local fishermen in Hastings, East Sussex.
An issue with POTUS?
Dan Wakeford of Celebrity Intelligence alleged on Monday that Prince William is actually skipping the World Cup in order to avoid potential run-ins with U.S. President Donald Trump. Wakeford cited a Buckingham Palace insider who said that Prince William wants to "keep his distance" these days and would rather not attend at all than turn down a meeting on U.S. soil.
“Trump loves the royals, and William and Kate especially, so there are concerns within royal circles that if William turns up in America right now, Trump will make a beeline for him. William’s done more than enough Trump-time over the past year," the insider said. “He (William) doesn’t want to be associated with Trump more than he needs to be. As a future head of state, he knows he has to engage with world leaders and press the flesh, but he wants to keep his distance where he can. Turning down a meeting on home soil would be a bad look.”
© Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
That said, Prince William did say on the Kelce brothers' New Heights show mere days ago that if England were to reach the World Cup Final, he would attend. President Trump will almost certainly be in attendance for the Final, so it's a bit hard to believe that Prince Williams is skipping the semifinals just to avoid someone he would be guaranteed to meet with if they win anyway.
England take on Argentina in the World Cup semifinals on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET.
