Prince William Shocks Soccer Fans at a Local Pub — and Buys a Round!

Prince William joined fellow Aston Villa fans for a surprise pub meetup, raising a glass after wrapping up his royal engagement.

On Jan. 15, the Prince of Wales was announced as the new patron of the College of Paramedics and stepped out in Birmingham, England, for its inaugural Emergency and Critical Care Conference. It marked his first royal duty of the year, and came the day after his wife Kate Middleton announced that she is in remission from cancer.

Following the stop at the conference, where William met with paramedics, sat in on learning sessions and gave a speech about his commitment to supporting first responders in his new role, he made a pit stop at a local pub.

The Prince of Wales, 42, organized a meetup of Aston Villa fans to coincide with his time in Birmingham (the Premier League team's home city) and bought them a round of drinks at Wetherspoons before the soccer team's game later that day.

Wetherspoon's is a U.K. chain with several outposts in Birmingham, and the meetup happened at the Birmingham New Street train station location.

Related: Prince William Steps Out for First Time Since Kate Middleton's Cancer Remission Announcement

"Prince William surprised pub-goers when he popped into a Wetherspoons at the train station in Birmingham today. He arranged a meet-up with a group of @AVFCOfficial regulars while he was in the city to speak at the College of Paramedics conference and bought them a round," Rebecca English of the Daily Mail wrote on X.

"You’ve got to be British, I think, to understand the cultural significance of a future king in the ‘spoons!" she added in another message.

The Daily Mail reported that Prince William had a pint of Bulmers cider at the pub before taking the train back to London, and he seemed to be at ease in the company of his fellow Aston Villa fans in a video that English shared to X, where he posed for photos and even smiled for a selfie.

Steve Jones, a Villa supporter of 35 years, said that the royal encounter came about after Aston Villa reached out mentioning that Prince William wanted to meet local fans during his trip to Birmingham.

Related: Prince William Cheers on Favorite Team in Surprise Outing: He's 'Buoyed' by Soccer amid Trying Times, Says Source

"We were contacted by the club saying Prince William wanted to meet a delegation of Villa fans as he was in Birmingham as he wanted to keep in the loop with everything going on at Villa," Jones said, according to the outlet. "He was fantastic. I was quite amazed about how engaged he was with the club, his interest. He's not a fair weather fan. He really loves the club with a passion."

Jones, 56, relayed that William was up totally up speed on the team's latest updates, and even mentioned which one of his kids is part of the fandom! The Prince and Princess of Wales are parents to Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6, and William has brought George to several games through the years.

"We spoke about the club, the transfers, the pending Champions League trip to Monaco, and all things Aston Villa. He asked many questions — he's got a good level of interest," Jones said.

"It was 95% chat about Villa as that's our shared interest but a bit about his family. Young George is a Villa fan but he didn't want all three to be Villa fans," he relayed, referring to Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

Jones said the prince's passion made a splash and that he relayed he'd be watching Villa's game later that day.

"He was massively interested and seemed a really genuine guy and all he wanted to do is talk about Villa," the fan said of William.

"He said he was hopeful about beating Everton tonight and would be watching but was wary about new manager syndrome, or rather old manager syndrome," he added, an apparent allusion to Everton's leadership changes last week.

Aston Villa is set to play Everton in an away game at Goodison Park at 7:30 p.m., local time, on Jan. 15, and William rallied for Aston Villa in his speech at the College of Paramedics' Emergency and Critical Care Conference.

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"It’s great to be back in Birmingham, and for any fellow Villa fans with us today – I look forward to celebrating our win over Everton later," Prince William began, which won laughs from the audience in video English shared to X.

The Prince of Wales is a loyal soccer follower and vocal fan of Aston Villa — even losing his voice at a game in the fall! The royal previously explained that he came to be a Villa fan because he wanted to root for a team with an underdog feel.

"A long time ago at school, I got into football big time. I was looking around for clubs. All my friends at school were either Man United or Chelsea fans and I didn’t want to follow the run-of-the-mill teams," Prince William said of the backstory, The Telegraph reported in 2018. "I wanted to have a team that was more mid-table that could give me more emotional rollercoaster moments."

King Charles' son is also the president of the Football Association, the game's governing body in England, and brought Prince George to a Villa game last April.

A close source told PEOPLE that following Aston Villa gave Prince William a lift as both his wife Princess Kate and father King Charles were undergoing treatment for cancer. (Princess Kate said in September 2024 that she completed chemotherapy, and palace sources said in December that the King's treatment is continuing into this year).

"He has been hugely buoyed by the results of Aston Villa," the source said of William. "You shouldn’t overlook the importance of soccer in these moments."

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