The Prince of Wales has revealed that, if England are in need of a penalty taker during their Euro 2020 football final, he has the skills for the job.
As the country gears up for the national team’s momentous match against Italy on Sunday, Charles coolly hit the back of the net.
The heir to the throne showed off his ball control when he chatted to football coach Zoe Denman-Ellis, founder of Lundby Juniors, a football academy for girls and young women, during a visit to the Cardiff base of The Prince’s Trust.
With sporting equipment at his feet, including a small net and a ball, the young entrepreneur offered Charles the chance to take a shot.
With the goal only a few metres away, Charles said: “I’d be extremely disappointed if I missed that” and, after kicking the ball between the posts, joked: “It takes a hell of a lot of practice.”
After meeting the prince at the open-air event, the coach, based in South Wales, said: “He used the inside of his foot and picked his spot and went for it.
“Good technique, he doesn’t need any coaching from me.”
Charles is on the final leg of a week-long tour of Wales with the Duchess of Cornwall and, during a visit to St David’s Cathedral in Pembrokeshire on Thursday, he admitted he could barely watch England’s tense semi-final win against Denmark.
He said: “Watching the football, it’s rather too much for the nerves.”
The football coach was among a group of young entrepreneurs all supported in starting their businesses through The Prince’s Trust’s enterprise programme and invited to meet Charles.
He chatted to the businessmen and women who had set up stalls displaying their products and was impressed with Liz Morgan and Laura Perry, co-founders of a company selling goods, from pasta to shampoo, without packaging, telling them: “I’ll keep my eye on you.”
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The pair have recently opened a shop called Sero – Zero Waste, in Newport, south Wales, and Ms Perry said: “He seemed impressed with our business, it’s very in line with all the green initiatives he’s been supporting over the years.
“It’s a totally sustainable concept, if people want to do it they can and more and more are trying it.”
