King congratulates England on making Euro 2024 final

The King has sent his personal congratulations to the England team, urging them to secure victory against Spain in the Euro 2024 final without “any last-minute wonder goals or another penalties drama”.

The King conveyed a message to manager Gareth Southgate and his team at 10pm, just five minutes after the final whistle blew and England beat the Netherlands 2-1 in Dortmund, Germany.

He said: “My wife and I join all our family in wishing you the warmest congratulations on reaching the final of the Uefa European Championship - and in sending our very best wishes for Sunday’s match.

“If I may encourage you to secure victory before the need for any last minute wonder goals or another penalties drama, I am sure the stresses on the nation’s collective heart rate and blood pressure would be greatly alleviated! Good luck, England.”

The message was signed: “Charles R”.

A few minutes later, the Prince of Wales, president of the Football Association, hailed Ollie Watkins’ extraordinary 90th minute goal that secured victory.

He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “What a beauty, Ollie! Congratulations England! Finalists. W.”

Prince William was in Germany to see England win their quarter-final match against Switzerland on Saturday. It is thought likely he will return for the final on Sunday.

Joe Biden told Sir Keir Starmer that “football’s coming home” because of him after England reached the final.

The US president congratulated the Prime Minister on the semi-final victory as he welcomed him to the White House for their first face-to-face talks.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office shortly before 6pm local time (11pm BST), the pair were asked: “Is football coming home?”

“It looks like it,” Sir Keir answered, to which Mr Biden added: “It’s all because of the Prime Minister.”

The Labour leader replied: “Not lost a game under the Labour Government.”

Sir Keir, who was able to watch some of the game while attending a Nato summit in Washington DC, has already confirmed that he will be attending the final, which is in Berlin.

On the final whistle, he tweeted: “What a game England and what a winner. Berlin here we come!”

Comedian John Bishop claimed that he was going to move the time of his live show in Wolverhampton on Sunday evening to the afternoon so he could watch the final.

“You’re all going to get an email in the morning, telling you the time,” he said. 

“I know it won’t suit everybody so anybody who can’t make it, we’ll give you a refund… There’s no chance I’m going to be doing it at 8pm because I’m going to be busy watching these boys.”

Footage from The Killers gig at the O2 in London on Wednesday night revealed that the band showed the final moments of the match on a large screen on stage before sending red and white confetti into the air on the final whistle.

As the crowd erupted, the band launched into their hit, Mr Brightside.

Meanwhile, Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, said that to celebrate England’s success, “the capital’s largest screening” of the final would take place at the O2 on Sunday.

He said a ballot for tickets would open at 10am on Friday on the City Hall website.

Tesco has revealed that it will close its stores early on Sunday to allow staff to watch the match.

It said that if England got through to the final, more than 1,800 Express stores would close at 7.30pm rather than the usual 10.30pm or 11pm.