Just In: Princess Anne to go head-to-head with Princess Kate this week – details

The Princess Royal and the Princess of Wales are huge sports fans

The Princess Royal and the Princess of Wales are set for some friendly family rivalry this weekend.

The royal ladies are both huge rugby fans and England will face Scotland in their next Six Nations match on Saturday 22 February.

Princess Anne, 74, has been the patron of the Scottish Rugby Union since 1986, while Kate, 43, became the patron of England’s Rugby Football Union and the Rugby Football League in 2022, taking over from Prince Harry.

The Princess Royal rarely misses a match and is set to be among the spectators in the stands at Twickenham Stadium on Saturday.

Kate is reportedly on a family holiday with Prince William and their three children in Mustique during the February half-term break.

But no doubt, the Princess will be keeping an eye on the action from the Caribbean.

Kate’s sister, Pippa Matthews, previously revealed how the Middleton family have long been avid rugby followers.

In a piece for Vanity Fair in 2014, Pippa wrote: “Rugby was a big thing for our family, and the focal point was international matches, which were often played on Saturday afternoons and were as much social as sporting occasions.

“We’d plan our weekends around the big matches, a quick bite to eat at halftime or lunch on our laps, typically a chicken potpie or something equally cosy and English. If we lost, my dad would be in a state of despair for the rest of the afternoon, as if he’d actually lost the game himself.”

William and Kate’s three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are all learning how to play the sport, with the Princess once revealing that her youngest son Louis is a “kamikaze” player.

The royal couple appeared on Mike Tindall’s podcast, The Good, The Bad & The Rugby, alongside Mike’s mother-in-law, Princess Anne in 2023, with the former rugby star asking them if the children are showing signs of competitiveness.

Just a little bit, I would suggest,” Anne interjected before Kate added: “What’s interesting is that they all obviously [have] very different temperaments.

“And as they’re growing and trying out different sports – they’re obviously still really young – it’s going be interesting to see how that grows and develops.”

Meanwhile, Prince William, who has been patron of the Welsh Rugby Union since 2016, took his son George to watch Wales vs Argentina during the Rugby World Cup quarter finals in France in October 2023.