He might be the future king, but the Prince of Wales was treated like one of the lads by his ‘band of brothers’ as Aston Villa claimed its first major trophy in 30 years yesterday evening.
William’s crew included old pal Ben ‘Dawesey’ Dawes, Thomas van Straubenzee, 43, and Edward van Cutsem, 53, one of the sons of banker Hugh and his wife Emilie van Cutsem, who William grew up with.
And in one particularly playful moment, Edward, alongside his son, Jake, was seen chatting and joking around with the future king before patting him on the head.
The sense of familiarity is no surprise: Durham university graduate and former banker Edward is a godson of King Charles III and was a page boy at his wedding to Lady Diana.
Yesterday’s scenes, which saw William, 43, emotionally fling his arms around the group of men who had watched the royal’s favourite team defeat SC Freiburg during the UEFA Europa League Final in Istanbul, are likely to have stirred some sore emotions for the Duke of Sussex.
Rather than singing ‘Sweet Caroline’ and partying it up with football players alongside William and his squad, Harry is miles away in Montecito after leaving royal duties behind in 2020.
William van Cutsem, 47 – Edward’s brother – and Thomas were boyhood friends with William and Harry and their families have remained closely entwined since, from high society events to charity partnerships, to godparent duties and being ushers at each others’ weddings.
But after Harry made his move to California six years ago, and laid bare his grievances with the family in a tell-all memoir, Spare; his connections with old friends have suffered alongside the well-documented rift with his family.
The Prince of Wales received a playful pat on the head from family friend Edward van Cutsem at yesterday evening’s Aston Villa game
William’s old pal Ben ‘Dawesey’ Dawes (pictured right) was seen laughing as the conversation unfolded
Thomas is known as William’s best friend and in the wake of Megxit, sources said the future king was leaning on his old pal for support while Harry turned to another van Straubenzee brother, Charlie.
Meanwhile, Harry himself confirmed in his memoir Spare that he’d experienced a rift with some members of the van Cutsem family who didn’t approve of his tell-all Oprah interview.
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‘Several close mates and beloved figures in my life, including one of Hugh and Emilie’s sons, Emilie herself, and even Tiggy, had chastised me for Oprah,’ the Duke had penned. ‘How could you reveal such things? About your family?’
The rift appears to have started in 2020, when one of the van Cutsem brothers Hugh Ralph’s wife Rose Astor – who he married in 2005 – offended Harry and Meghan by seemingly mocking their announcement that they intend to ‘step back’ as senior members of the Royal Family in 2020.
‘I am standing back as a senior member of my tax return,’ Rose wrote on social media, ‘because I’d rather drink coffee, see my friends, love my family and do yoga.’
She later declined to discuss her comments, explaining: ‘I’m so sorry, I can’t say anything. I’m sure you understand. I’m going to be in so much trouble.’
Hugh, 52, is particularly close to Prince William, with the royal being a senior usher at Hugh and Rose’s wedding in 2005.
Elsewhere, the van Straubenzees have often been described as being like a second family to William and Harry, and Claire and Alex – the boys’ parents – provided a retreat for the royal brothers during the ‘war of the Waleses’ (Charles and Diana’s very public, and painful divorce).
Jake van Cutsem, Prince William and Edward van Cutsem are seen celebrating following Aston Villa’s victory
As the Prince of Wales laughed and cried while Aston Villa secured its first major trophy in 30 years last night, he was joined by his equally enthusiastic ‘band of brothers’ – some of whom he has known since childhood
The Prince of Wales (1) goes wild with Ben ‘Dawesey’ Dawes (2) to his right looking at him. Jake van Cutsem (3) punches the air to William’s left and has an arm around his father Edward van Cutsem (4), one of William’s oldest friends. Edward has his arm around Thomas van Straubenzee (5), another of the Prince’s oldest friends
Harry was particularly close to Thomas’s late brother Henry who became the royal’s best friend after they met at their prep school, Ludgrove Prep in Berkshire.
‘Skinny, with no muscles, and hair that stood up in permanent surrender, Henners was all heart,’ he wrote affectionately of ‘Henners’. ‘Whenever he smiled, people melted.’
The Duke said in his book that Henry was the only boy who asked him about his mother Princess Diana after she died in 1997. Tragically, he himself passed away in a car crash at the age of 18.
In Spare, Harry described how the news of Henry’s death had terrible echoes of the moment that his father, then Prince Charles, told him that his mother had died. He noted how, ‘just like Mummy’, Henry was not wearing a seatbelt.
In December 2022, despite being estranged, the princes signed a joint letter to mark the 20th anniversary of Henry’s death.
Thomas’s brother Charlie appears to still be close to Harry, and both himself and Thomas were ushers at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding in 2018, where Charlie gave a speech at the reception.
Harry also is godfather to Charlie’s four-year-old daughter Clover and, in turn, Charlie is godfather to Prince Archie, five. The pair were also seen cycling around the Californian neighbourhood in May 2022.
However Thomas – often described as the Prince of Wales’s best friend – is likely to have divided loyalties over the princes’ rift.
Thomas is known as William’s best friend and in the wake of Megxit, sources said the future king was leaning on his old pal for support while Harry turned to another Van Straubenzee brother, Charlie. Harry and Charlie pictured in 2015
William and Thomas van Straubenzee pictured at Coworth Park Polo Club in 2014 in Ascot
Harry and William at a reception to mark the launch of the Henry Van Straubenzee Memorial Fund in 2008
Harry and William with Hugh van Cutsem at his brother Edward’s wedding in 2004
He and the Duke were close to one another in the 2010s, and when Thomas was mugged in Stockwell, south London in 2012 – it was Harry he was on the phone to when his Nokia phone was snatched.
In 2015, he accompanied Harry and his brother Charlie to a rugby match.
However, there seems to be no public joint appearances of the duo since – while Thomas has been seen by William’s side aplenty.
Harry’s changed dynamic with the van Cutsems and van Straubenzees isn’t the only friendship change he’s experienced in recent times, including his bond with Hugh Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster.
The Duke, one of the UK’s biggest landowners, is a close friend of both Harry and William, and godfather to Prince George and also to Prince Archie.
But Harry’s transatlantic dash has seen him miss multiple friendship milestones, ranging from a low-key football match to his perhaps more painful absence from Hugh’s 2024 wedding to Olivia Henson.
The billionaire aristocrat was reportedly keen to invite the Sussexes but mutually agreed with Harry that it would be better if they didn’t attend so the occasion wouldn’t be overshadowed by royal tensions.
It’s a far cry from Hugh’s once-close relationship with the Montecito-based father-of-two, who was reportedly earmarked as Hugh’s best man at one point prior to his exclusion from the society wedding.
William greeted The Claret & Blue Podcast host, Mat Kendrick, with a hug after yesterday’s game
Elsewhere yesterday, William also featured on The Claret & Blue Podcast, hosted by Dan Rolinson, Mat Kendrick & John Townley.
The hosts paid William a visit in the box after Aston Villa’s victory, where he commented on the team’s ‘surreal’ win.
Looking on at the cheering crowds in the stadium below, William said: ‘I was tempted to go down there, but I thought, ‘I’ll just let everyone else have their moment down there.”
‘I was expecting a rollercoaster,’ William, who appeared in his zone while on the topic of football, said, continuing the conversation with the hosts, ‘But it was actually pretty smooth.’
William also told the podcasters that he’d ‘been thinking’ about featuring in an episode of their show.
Earlier today, William took to Instagram to praise the team, writing alongside footage of the game: ‘What a night.
‘Thank you to Turkey for hosting a great final. Incredible atmosphere and great sportsmanship from Freiburg. Enjoy the parade, Birmingham. W.’
Aston Villa, the Birmingham-based football club, might seem like somewhat of a surprising choice for Britain’s future king, who is often seen supporting the team at both home and away games.
Yet William’s passionate support for Aston Villa goes back decades, with the royal first deciding to follow the team during his time at Berkshire’s Ludgrove School.
Deliberately resisting the pull of the more popular teams, William quickly became a die-hard Villa supporter and has not looked back since.
‘A long time ago at school I got into football big time. I was looking around for clubs. All my friends were either Man United fans or Chelsea fans and I didn’t want to follow the run-of-the-mill teams,’ he told the BBC in 2015.
‘I wanted to have a team that was more mid-table that could give me more emotional rollercoaster moments.’
William was born 26 days after Villa’s last European victory – when they lifted the European Cup after defeating Bayern Munich on May 26, 1982.
‘Aston Villa’s always had a great history. I have got friends of mine who support Aston Villa and one of the first FA Cup games I went to was Bolton v Aston Villa back in 2000. Sadly, Villa went on to lose to Chelsea (in the final),’ he said.
‘It was fantastic, I sat with all the fans with my red beanie on, and I was with all the Brummie fans and had a great time.
‘It was the atmosphere, the camaraderie and I really felt that there was something I could connect with.’
Curiously, William’s interest in the club intensified following a downturn in their fortunes.
‘I kept an eye on Villa from then on but didn’t get too involved initially,’ he told the Sun. ‘But Villa being relegated to the Championship in 2016 got me even more interested, strangely.
‘A few years earlier, we’d finished sixth under Martin O’Neill and now we weren’t even in the Premier League. I’m not certain why I became much more interested then, but it might have been due to the rise of the smartphone.
‘I’d grown up looking at Ceefax on the television or the back pages of newspapers, and if you didn’t have those to hand you were a bit out of the loop.
‘But now you can get so much data and follow how your team is doing all the time and there’s so much more discussion and debate. That’s how my passion really increased.’
Now, William has sought to share his unwavering support for Aston Villa with his eldest son, Prince George, 12, who has often been regularly spotted in the stands.
Last year, the Prince of Wales described how he was hopeful taking George to the games would help him to create ‘special memories’ with his son.
When attending Aston Villa’s Champions League quarter-final against PSG in April last year, William was asked by Rio Ferdinand whether it was a ‘lads’ trip’.
‘I’m not sure how many Villa fans there will be but they will make themselves well known,’ Prince William said.
‘I have got my son here too so I am on best behaviour but 43 years since this has happened and I want George to experience a night out in a big competition, those memories are really important to create and bringing him away is important.
‘I am open to who they support, I am biased but they come to games with Villa so it will likely be Villa, but I have left the other two at home probably watching on TV. We will see who they support.’
Last night, 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.
William also got an invite to the after-party 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.
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.’
