Kate Middleton and Prince William Attend Six Nations Rugby Match for First Time in Years: Inside Their Rivalry

Kate Middleton and Prince William have their game faces on at the Wales vs. England Six Nations Match, attending the rugby game for the first time in years.

On March 15, the Prince and Princess of Wales stepped out in Cardiff, Wales, to attend the sold-out rugby match at Principality Stadium. The Wales vs. England tournament round is as personal for Prince William and Princess Kate as it is for their fellow fans in the stands, as they back rival teams as patrons: William supports Wales, while Kate endorses England.

Before the match began, the couple met with injured players supported by the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust, which William is also the patron of. The charity was established in 1972 as a resource for athletes who have been severely injured while playing rugby football in Wales and their families.

William, 42, and Kate, 43, met with the players and their loved ones at Sir Tasker Watkins Suite, a dedicated space at the stadium for the athletes and families to use before matches. The injured players are invited to attend every Wales home game, just like the Six Nations face-off.

Prince William is patron of the Welsh Rugby Union, which governs the game in Wales, while Princess Kate supports Rugby Football Union, its counterpart in England. These affiliations create a lighthearted rugby rivalry between the royal couple, who are back at the Wales vs. England Six Nations Match for the first time in two years while Princess Kate took time for her health last year.

William and Kate didn’t go to the rugby tournament in February 2024 as they have in the past while she recovered from a “planned abdominal surgery” that January. Kate then said that March that she was receiving treatment for cancer and reduced her royal duties for the rest of the year.

The Princess of Wales shared in September that she completed chemotherapy and announced with “relief” in January that she is in remission. Princess Kate has resumed a fuller schedule of royal commitment since, and her rugby date with William in Wales is their first official outing at a sports event this year.

The couple is known to share a passion for sports and are raising their kids Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6, to appreciate the same. The Prince and Princess of Wales brought George to Wales vs. England Six Nations game in February 2022, where he seemed fascinated by the action! Prince William said then that rugby rivalry had become “quite the thing in the house” but said he was “trying to stay out of it,” according to royal editor Roya Nikkah of The Sunday Times.

Prince William has been patron of the Welsh Rugby Union since 2016, while his wife’s patronage of the Rugby Football Union and Rugby Football League of England is a newer royal role. Princess Kate took on the position in February 2022 in an appointment that marked the first of Prince Harry‘s former patronages to be redistributed after he and wife Meghan Markle stepped back from their working roles.

“I am so thrilled to become Patron of the Rugby Football League and Rugby Football Union – two fantastic organisations who are committed to harnessing the power that sport can have in bringing communities together and helping individuals flourish,” Princess Kate said in a statement then about the patronage post. “I look forward to working with them across all levels of the games, and to cheering England on in what promises to be an exciting year for both sports! C”