Duke of Cambridge ‘couldn’t wait to see Aston Villa game’

The Duke of Cambridge has revealed he could not wait to watch his beloved Aston Villa – at the end of his first day in Kuwait.

William told a group of Kuwaiti schoolboys he rushed to a screen on Sunday to see his football club take on Manchester United – and they held them to a draw.

His sporting confession came during a visit to an educational cultural centre where he showed off his reactions – hitting lights to test his reflexes, and shot hoops during a basketball event with youngsters.

Before having a kickabout with the schoolboys, he asked: “Have you heard of a team called Aston Villa?”, and when they replied “no” he joked “of course you’ve heard of a team called Aston Villa”.

“They played yesterday against Manchester United – a two-all draw. I tried to watch it as soon as we landed I was as quick as we could,” he added.

After the arrival ceremony at Kuwait International Airport on Sunday evening, the duke would have been able to watch the second half of the match which kicked off at 4.30pm in Manchester.

During his visit to the Sheikh Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre, the duke, who stands 6ft 2ins tall, was left almost bent double when he took on the reaction challenge.

“The lights are too low for a tall guy,” he said as Bashar Huneidi, one of the Gulf’s few alpine skiers, told the royal how the reaction game worked.

Later he joked with schoolboys playing an interactive game of basketball where they had to throw the ball at a hoop whenever one, out of a group, lit up.

Earlier, the royal had met a group of pupils from the Qurtoba Secondary School for Girls who told the duke about their Trash to Treasure composting project.

William joked: “I go outside and throw it in”, adding with a laugh “am I doing it right?” as one of the schoolgirls told him he had to layer his bin scraps to get the best results.