Six Nations: Rugby patrons Prince William and Kate Middleton at Wales v England

The Prince and Princess of Wales have stepped out at England’s Six Nations match against Wales this afternoon in Cardiff.

Kate, 41, patron of Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Rugby Football League (RFL), and Prince William, 40, who has been patron of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) since 2016, appeared in great spirits as they arrived at the game.

The famously competitive royal couple are in the stands to cheer on their respective teams in their Six Nations tie.  

Kate took over the Rugby roles from her brother-in-law Prince Harry who used to enjoy cheering on England before he was forced to give up the patronage as part of the Megxit agreement. 

The Princess of Wales, who grew up watching rugby with her family, is known as one of the sportiest members of the Royal Family and has gamely taken on her husband in everything from dragon boating to wind buggy racing at royal engagements. 

She has played tennis and hockey from a young age and is already royal patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and is a frequent visitor to the Wimbledon Championships.

Less well known is her love of rugby. Her sister, Pippa, wrote in Vanity Fair magazine in 2014: ‘Rugby was a big thing for our family, we’d plan our weekends around the big matches.’ 

Meanwhile, Wales players threatened to strike for the England game before an agreement was reached on a series of contractual disputes with their Welsh rugby bosses.

‘Hopefully we will never end up in this situation again,’ Wales captain Ken Owens said. ‘The biggest positive we can take from all this is how united the players have been and how strongly we’ve backed each other.

‘A lot of us senior players in Welsh rugby have experienced this before. It has definitely galvanised us and that has shown in the unity of the actions that were taken.’

After a tumultuous period which must rank as one of Welsh rugby’s biggest ever crises, Owens and his team now have to somehow turn their attentions to the on-field action.

Kate, 41, patron of Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Rugby Football League (RFL), and Prince William, 40, who has been patron of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) since 2016, appeared in great spirits as they arrived at the game

Warren Gatland’s side were hammered by Ireland and Scotland in the first two rounds of the Six Nations and then the strike threat completely overshadowed the build-up to England.

‘We’re probably disappointed it got to the stage it did but as players we needed to do it because there is so much uncertainty in the game,’ Owens said.

‘But it was put to bed on Wednesday and what is done is done. Now we need to focus on the rugby.’

Wales flanker Justin Tipuric sat out Friday’s captain’s run session to manage his training load but will still start against England.

‘We need a win to get the pride back in the shirt after two defeats,’ said Owens, who revealed he agreed with his head coach Gatland that past Welsh successes had papered over the cracks of the country’s previous rugby problems. 

‘It’s trying to finish this saga on a positive. We have had a lot of crisis in Welsh rugby over the last 10 or 12 years at different points and it has almost been the national squad that has delivered to cover them.

‘If the national squad weren’t winning, this would probably have come to a head a lot sooner.’