Prince William Takes Over Kensington Palace’s Twitter Account After England’s Victory

England’s dramatic World Cup victory against Colombia last night proved momentous in more ways than one: the successful penalty shootout was dramatic enough to prompt Prince William to temporarily join the world of social media, tweeting his congratulations to the national team via Kensington Palace’s official account.

'I couldn’t be prouder of @england – a victory in a penalty shootout!' he wrote. 'You have well and truly earned your place in the final eight of the #worldcup and you should know the whole country is right behind you for Saturday! Come on England!' He signed off the message with a single initial, 'W,' because that's what royals do when given control of their social media accounts (see the time when his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, finished off a thank you tweet with 'Elizabeth R.')

Given that the Prince, who is the current President of the Football Association, will not be attending any matches in Russia (marking the first time in 16 years that neither he nor his brother Harry has attended the championship), it's quite heart-warming to imagine Wills hosting his own World Cup screening in Kensington Palace's Apartment 1A. Perhaps he called Harry and Meghan round, dressed George and Charlotte in miniature Harry Kane t-shirts (with an England babygro for Prince Louis), had a few beers then demanded the closely-guarded Twitter password, checked the requisite hashtags and Twitter handles and finally typed out his (very coherent) congratulations. Of course, what he really wanted to do was fill up his 280 character limit with the lyrics of John Barnes's 'World In Motion' rap in block capitals, but we imagine that royal protocol put a downer on that. Will Saturday's quarter-finals bring another royal Twitter takeover? Will William decree that 'Three Lions' is our new national anthem? Only time will tell.

Need more proof that Prince William is the royal family's most devoted football fan? Scroll through the gallery below...