By Reuters Fact Check
Britain’s Prince William watched Aston Villa’s Champions League match on Oct. 2 from an executive box, not with regular supporters in the stands, contrary to online claims.
Facebook posts compared William, 42, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and suggested the latter watches Arsenal matches from a special box.
“The Prince of Wales watching football *in the stands*,” said text over the top half of a composite image, which showed William at Villa Park watching Aston Villa beat Bayern Munich.
The bottom half of the image, showing a picture of Starmer, said: “Our ‘working class’ prime minister: ‘I must watch football from a special box’.”
However, several pieces of evidence suggest William watched the match in an area separate from regular supporters in the Trinity Road Stand at Villa Park.
A photo of William at the game, available via Getty Images, shows “Emmiera Group” written on the window behind him.
Emmiera Group, a furniture and property repair firm, has an executive box in the Trinity Road Stand, according to its post on LinkedIn offering it as a prize in December 2023 for the Aston Villa versus Sheffield United Premier League game.
In another post on the social media network, James Lane, Emmiera Group’s CEO, said William had used the firm’s box for the Bayern match.
A photo of William from a different angle, by Reuters, shows the division between the executive box seating and other supporters.
Meanwhile, Starmer, a season ticket holder at Arsenal, has said he cannot use his existing seat since becoming prime minister because of security concerns.
Reuters has also previously debunked claims that Arsenal have given him the use of an executive box.
Kensington Palace, Aston Villa Football Club and Emmiera Group did not respond to requests for comment.
VERDICT
Misleading. William sat in an executive box at Villa Park, not in the stands with regular supporters.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work.
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