The Princess of Wales has revealed Prince Louis is “mad about rugby” at a reception for the England Wheelchair Rugby League squad in Hampton Court Palace.
As Patron of the Rugby Football League, the Princess said she watched the squad’s November World Cup Final victory over France with her family on TV, telling the players they had “set the bar high”.
Asked whether her own children play the sport, the mother-of-three said: “We’re always slightly competitive with each other. They all love sport and Louis is mad about rugby.
“They are at an age where they just love running around”.
She also revealed she uses the trampoline to stay fi t, telling one of the players who asked if she went to the gym: “It’s running around after the children - I do it all, whenever I can squeeze in exercise I do, even jumping on the trampoline with my children before school.”
The Duke of Sussex served as patron of the Rugby Football League until February 2021 and Kensington Palace announced that the Princess would be taking over the following year.
Since then, she has been keen to show her support for the Wheelchair Rugby League and to shine a light on the increased interest in the sport.
At the palace, she met with members of the squad and coaching team to pass on her congratulations for their historic 28-24 victory over France, which marked England’s first World Cup triumph since the inaugural Wheelchair tournament that was held in Australia in 2008.
The Wheelchair Final attracted a capacity crowd of 4,500, a new record for the Wheelchair Rugby League, and was watched by a seven-figure broadcast audience.
Sporting a burgundy trouser suit with a white round-neck jumper, the Princess told the players: “I bet you’ve been smiling since your win, you’ve all got used to smiling”.
She said that she was “so excited” to see the squad’s trajectory after their win and remarked that it was an “amazing” final and “really well deserved”.
She added that the final “really raised the profile” of wheelchair rugby, saying it “highlighted the power of the sport”.
The Princess told one of the players: “It’s this integrated network and community within the team, that’s what breeds the success…huge congratulations.
“You’ve set the bar really high now, I’m going to have to come and see a game firsthand”.
When one of the squad remarked that he wanted to see her visit and try playing with them in a wheelchair, she quipped: “There’s no excuse now…I’m going to have to do some upper body strength.”
She also commended their passion for the game, saying: “The dedication it takes to get to this level, well done you”.
The Princess also took interest in the various international approaches to wheelchair rugby, asking the players: “Do different teams in different nations take quite a different approach to the sport or is there a unified approach?”
One of the players responded: “It’s all about helping each other and trying to work together”.
She also emphasised how keen she was to come and watch a game live, saying: “I was watching the final on the telly but it must be totally different watching live,” adding that it might be “far more intense” in person.
Before departing the Princess told the squad: “I’m really proud and really grateful we got this opportunity and best of luck for the training and the season and I promise I’m going to come and see you for some games.”
Tom Coyd, the squad’s head coach, said: “Her Royal Highness is just so engaging. It’s probably the most privileged we have felt since winning the World Cup…That was the icing on the cake.
“She said she’d watched the final with her kids and she knew loads about the sport already and was talking about how exciting it was, how it’s really fierce in terms of collisions.
“She said it would be great for us to go and do an engagement session at the school where her children attend.”
The 27-year-old added: “She said Louis is doing tag rugby at school. She was saying that it is quite basic at the minute in that he is just getting to grips with the passing and the running around. But when you are four-and-a-half you just want to get the ball and run in any direction.
“She actually said that he recognised quite a lot of crossover with the rugby that he is doing, which is tag rugby with the tags on your hips, and our wheelchair game, where we have the tags on our shoulders.
“I just think she and her family connected really well with our game.”
Wheelchair England player James Simpson said the Princess told him how much her children and the Prince of Wales “celebrated watching England win” in the November final.
He said: “Having the Princess watching the games and congratulating us and wanting to meet us is incredible.”
The former lance corporal, who retired from playing wheelchair rugby this month, said he had also met the then Prince Charles in hospital in 2009 after he lost both his legs below the knee in an IED explosion in Afghanistan.
He said: “That is what started my journey really of getting into Wheelchair Rugby League three and a half years later and that was a huge turning point for me.
“It gave me that teamwork, that camaraderie that I lost when I got injured. Going out there in your England shirt and singing the national anthem is absolutely incredible for me as an ex-soldier.
“We played the semi-final of the World Cup on Remembrance Sunday and I nearly cried singing the national anthem that day.”
Simon Johnson, Chairman of the Rugby Football League, said: "It was clear that her interest in this was genuine.
“She wasn’t just doing it because this was what she had been briefed to do, she clearly knew the sport and she understood how challenging it is”.
He added: “I am delighted and really very honoured that the Princess of Wales has chosen the Rugby League World Cup and the wheelchair team to show her support for our sport”.
The Wheelchair Rugby League was founded in France in 2004 and the sport is open to all, including those with or without disabilities, with men and women playing on the same team.
