Which Famous Public Figures Has Prince William Been Comforting?

Prince William has reportedly been stepping up to support three major British stars. The royal hit the headlines after he, his wife, Kate Middleton, and their son, Prince George were spotted cheering on the England soccer team on July 11 when the players made it to the final of the Euro 2020 tournament against Italy.

George looked seriously excited to be at the stadium in London and was spotted laughing, smiling, and even embracing his parents in big hugs when the team scored. However, England ended up losing the match in pretty dramatic fashion during a penalty shootout. The game was a draw at full time and, with no winner determined after adding extra minutes to the match, both teams were given the chance to shoot directly at the goal five times. England missed three of their shots to Italy's two, after which William was spotted consoling a clearly disappointed George.

In the wake of the three misses, which lost England the Euro 2020 winners title, several members of the England soccer team with hit with vile racist abuse as their social media mentions were flooded with hateful comments. Now, Prince William — a longtime soccer fan and president of the English Football Association — is reported to be determined to do more to prevent racism in the sport.

Read on for all the details on how the royal is showing his compassionate side and who he's been supporting.

The trio of soccer players Prince William has been rallying around are Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka, the three Black players who missed their penalties during England's Euro 2020 final game.

According to a Daily Mail source, the royal has been "in touch" and has had "private conversations" with the players and the English Football Association in the hopes of doing more to stop online abuse. The insider also claimed William's "focus has been on supporting the players" and he's said to have been "comforting" them in the days that have followed the game.

The abuse has been a big topic in the U.K. with William previously addressing the vile comments the trio received on Twitter. "I am sickened by the racist abuse aimed at England players after last night's match," William wrote using the Kensington Royal Twitter account on July 12. "It is totally unacceptable that players have to endure this abhorrent behaviour. It must stop now and all those involved should be held accountable," he added.

William previously spoke out about wanting to help social media companies stop abuse on their platforms while speaking at the BBC in 2018. He initiated what he described as a meeting with "leaders and researchers in social media" to "see what we might do together to make the online world safer," but claimed that he "found very quickly though... that the sector did not want to own this issue."