'William knows his stuff about Villa'

When the Prince of Wales made a surprise appearance on The Graham Norton show last week, his lifelong love of Aston Villa was mentioned.

"Some childhood friends of mine got me into Aston Villa, clearly thinking they'd get some free tickets in later life. I think it's probably worked," he quipped, when Norton asked him how he got into the club.

During the show, it was revealed that Prince William is on some of the Aston Villa fan forums and posts anonymously about his beloved team.

Justin Hawthorne hosts the Justin Talks Villa YouTube channel, and told BBC Radio WM on Tuesday that he would love to think that the prince is active on his channel.

However, he is unsure of knowing it was him from the comments.

"I've seen him on the telly a few times like before games and stuff when he was interviewed and he really knows his stuff," Hawthorne said.

"So I think he would just come across as a very well read Villa fan to be honest."

Hawthorne said some of his friends met the prince last year when he visited a Wetherspoon pub in Birmingham and chatted to a group of Aston Villa fans.

"They said [that] he's not like a celebrity fan. He's a proper, proper fan. He knows his stuff," Hawthorne said.

"He studies the team, he goes and watches them at the training ground."

Hawthorne will be doing a live video on Wednesday for when the club plays Bournemouth and joked that he would be looking at his comment section.

"This is an open invitation. If he wants to come on and talk to me about Villa, he's welcome anytime on my channel," he laughed.

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