Prince William met the men’s England football squad ahead of the Euro 2024 tournament on Monday.

The Prince of Wales, who is the president of the FA, visited St George’s Park, England’s national football centre in Burton-upon-Trent, to wish the 26 players luck and present them with shirts.

Manager Gareth Southgate welcomed the prince to the national training ground as the team prepared to travel to Germany for the Euros.

In a rallying speech to the players, the prince said: “I was on the school run this morning with the children and I said ‘What shall I say to the England team today?’

“The best bit of advice I got [for] you was to eat twice the amount you normally would eat.

“So I then had visions of all of you running around with massive great tummies and loads of stitches on the pitch so I think maybe take my youngest’s advice with a pinch of salt.”

The prince shook hands with Southgate, remarking how “in a few hours” the squad was “getting ready to go” and head to Germany.

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The team will face Serbia in their first match on Sunday, followed by Denmark and Slovenia next week.

England are currently favourites with Sky Bet to win their first Euros in Germany.

Schoolchildren from across the Midlands were invited to St George’s Park to attend a festival of football to mark England’s send-off.

The prince and Southgate were set to drop in to watch the friendly matches and meet some of the youngsters taking part.

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England were beaten 1-0 by Iceland in their final warm-up friendly on Friday and Jack Grealish, James Maddison and Harry Maguire have been cut from England’s final squad.

The England men’s team reached the final of Euro 2020 only to lose on penalties to Italy, while they were eliminated by France in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.

Half of the squad taken to Qatar for the World Cup 18 months ago will not travel to Germany.

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The women’s team, England’s Lionesses, won the Euro 2022 title, becoming the first England team to win any major tournament since 1966.

The UEFA Euro 2024 tournament begins in Germany on Friday.

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