Royal Family's World Cup protocols could be ditched thanks to Prince William

Despite his reputation as the monarchy's biggest football fan, whether Prince William would be appear at any 2026 FIFA World Cup games has been debated for some time.

Sure, the 43-year-old rocked up to Aston Villa's Europa League final last month, and famously attended the nail-biting EUROs final with son Prince George in 2024, where England lost out to Spain.

But with this year's World Cup tournament set to take place across the Atlantic, questions were raised over William's safety, as well as whether it'd be breaking any major royal protocol for a future King to be cheering from the stands.

According to one former royal butler, however, William's own vision for the future of the Crown has afforded both him and his descendants with some freedom when it comes to pursuing hobbies and interests that would be previously deemed improper.

Harrold says William wants to ditch traditional royal formalities surrounding sport (Pierre Suu/Getty Images)

With this in mind, Grant Harrold believes the father-of-three will prove a very visible figure in football over the next month.

"This is a sign that the younger royals are relaxing protocols," he told OLBH. "William has said that the Royal Family will be smaller, but he also wants to show it will be a modern Royal Family with a modern approach, and this is something he is very aware of when he is in those boxes."

Comparing William's expected attendance at World Cup games with the Wales' recent appearances at Wimbledon, Harrold continued: "When I was there, there were strict protocols we were given if we went into a royal box or an area with the royals, of how you could behave, what you could wear, what you could say, what you could do."

He added: "The fact that he is acting like any other football fan, which we would have never seen his grandmother or grandfather do, or even his father, shows how he is relaxing things and a sign of things to come."

Harrold also recalled former royal tradition at such events, which he says were plagued with former greetings and handshakes.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will kick off this week (Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images)

"Sit there quietly, have a poker face, watching the game, giving no insight into which team they were supporting," he looked back. "But now, especially with William, it’s very different, so the royal protocol goes out the window.

"It’s difficult to say what the protocols are now, as William makes it very clear which team he is fighting for; while the late Queen was very neutral, William is biased. With other events like Wimbledon, the rules still apply.

"But for some reason, William has been more like a normal fan when it comes to football."

Harrold's assessment forms part of a wider prediction that the Royal Family might look and feel a little different by the time William takes the throne - especially given he's already heavily hinted at implementing a more 'streamlined monarchy' going forward.

During a November 2024 visit to Cape Town, the Prince opened up about his plans to modernise the firm by focusing on approachability, empathy, and impact rather than traditional formalities and rigid protocol.