Prince William: I Scared Foe With Fake Sniper

Duke also admits to abusing soccer referees 'in my head,' reveals worst gift he ever got his wife
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 29, 2020 9:45 AM CDT
Prince William: I Scared Foe With Fake Sniper
Britain's Prince William speaks in Peterborough, England, on July 16, 2020.   (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, pool)

Being a royal comes with perks even on the soccer field, at least for Prince William. During an appearance on the BBC's That Peter Crouch Podcast, where he spoke with the former professional soccer player about mental health and more, the Duke of Cambridge fessed up to getting a bodyguard to pose as a sniper to intimidate an opponent as a teenager, per Sky News. "I got one of my policemen to take a laser pen out with them. And I got him to red mark, red dot one of the players," William said in the conversation recorded at Kensington Palace before the coronavirus lockdown in March. "I said, 'See, he's following you, following you,'" added the duke, who noted he was around 15 at the time.

He defended the move, saying "everyone wanted to break my legs" even though he was a "fat knacker running around at the back panting." The ruse only kept his opponent away for about 10 minutes, he added. The duke noted his love of soccer and his favorite team, Aston Villa, has intensified since becoming a father. "I need to go and be amongst other guys and kind of let out a bit of steam, shout a bit, not abuse the referee—because I'm the president of the [Football Association] and I can't do that—but in my head I am," he said, per the Evening Standard. At one point, the conversation turned to gifts, and William admitted his wife Kate wasn't too pleased when he gave her a pair of binoculars early in their relationship. "She's never let me forget that," he said. (More Prince William stories.)

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