William's band of Villains: How Prince celebrated his team's cup victory in the company of some of his oldest friends.

 

William's band of Villains: How Prince celebrated his team's cup victory in the company of some of his oldest friends.

The final whistle in Istanbul last night secured Aston Villa their first major trophy in 30 years, but also unleashed an intensity of emotion in Prince William never seen before.

Red-faced, teeth clenched, fists shaking, the Prince threw himself into the air and bellowed to the heavens.

Between wiping away tears, he flung his arms around the gaggle of men in navy-blue smart casual who had watched the game alongside him from the box.

But who were his fellow fans, who enjoyed the unique experience of watching their side win alongside live commentary from a Windsor?

Some of the faces joining Wills in the box were familiar from previous trips to Villa Park.

Sitting to his right, on the end of the row, was Ben Dawes - better known as 'Dawesey'. An old friend of William's, Dawes co-founded a wine businesses with his wife, Pip, and recently said he is trying to master padel 'to give myself something to think about'.

To William's left were 16-year-old Jake van Cutsem and his banker father, Edward van Cutsem - one of the Prince's closest childhood friends. William and the van Cutsems were filmed dancing and singing to 'Sweet Caroline' together in their box.

William also got an invite to the afterparty to celebrate Villa's 3-0 win over Freiburg to win the Europa League - their first European title since 1982, the year of the prince's birth.

Star defender Victor Lindelöf's wife Maja shared an image of her partying with William with the caption: 'Going off the rails'. Her post also revealed that friends and family had danced and sang through the night in the team hotel with the famous trophy.

Edward and William became close pals after Edward's father, Hugh van Cutsem, befriended then-Prince Charles at Cambridge University.

Edward is King Charles's godson, and his brothers, William and Nicholas, are godfathers to William's sons, Prince George and Prince Louis, respectively.

The Prince was an usher at Edward's 2004 wedding, when he married Lady Tamara Grosvenor - older sister of Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, whose daughter is William's goddaughter. 

Edward's son, Jake, is just 16 years old and also seemingly had the time of his life cheering on Villa. 

Down from Edward was Thomas van Straubenzee, another childhood friend, and one of Princess Charlotte's godfathers.

Thomas was one of the two men that Prince Harry claimed were the 'real' best men at William and Kate's wedding.

In his memoir, Spare, Harry revealed that Thomas gave the traditional best man speech, alongside James Meade.

Thomas's relationship with the Windsor brothers dates back to their prep school days at Ludgrove.

He is the global head of the private office of estate agent Knight Frank, and accompanied the Prince to New Zealand on his gap year.

The box was believed to also contain other members of the van Cutsem family and old university friends.

Becoming one with the crowd, the line of men enthusiastically joined in with a passionate rendition of Sweet Caroline.

William posted on X after the final whistle: 'Amazing night!! Huge congratulations to all the players, team, staff and everyone connected to the club! 44 years since the last taste of European silverware!

'Special shout out to Boubacar Kamara who has been out injured but is such an integral part of our team and helped lay the foundations of this success.'

He finished the post 'UTV! VTID' using the abbreviated forms of 'Up The Villa' and 'Villa Till I Die'.

Earlier in the evening, William had paid a pre-match visit to the Villa dressing room, offering a final word of encouragement as Emery’s side prepared for the biggest game in a generation.

Dressed smartly in a black suit and blue shirt, he initially cut a tense figure while making his way through the tunnel ahead of kick-off. But there was little sign of nerves once the action began, as he cheered on a famous - and relatively straightforward - victory for the Birmingham club.

'He's a classy guy, he was in the dressing room before the game,' Villa captain John McGinn said.

'He's a massive Villa fan and he was never going to miss it. It's great to have his support and he's just a normal guy. Hopefully it (his support) continues and tonight he can have a couple of drinks with us and maybe get his credit card out at the end of the night.'

In the lead-up to the game against German side Freiburg, defender Ezri Konsa said that William referring to him as a 'Rolls-Royce' counted as the greatest compliment of his career, and that the team were grateful for his support.

'It’s weird because on game day when he comes in you’re focused on the game a lot, so sometimes you’re in the moment and you don’t realise how big it is that you have got him coming in to greet everyone, shaking everyone’s hand,' said Konsa, a regular for Villa and England.

Tags: Queen, Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince Louis, Prince William and Kate Middleton, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Meghan, Lilibet

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email thuongvietland@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you.