FA Cup: Aston Villa fan Prince William nervous ahead of final

Aston Villa fan Prince William says he is starting to feel the nerves ahead of Saturday's FA Cup final with Arsenal.

The Duke of Cambridge, who is also the FA president, will be at Wembley to watch the game and present the trophy to the winning side.

In an interview with Gary Lineker for Football Focus, Prince William, 32, said: "I'm nervous now. I'm terrified."

Prince William also spoke of his hopes Prince George and Princess Charlotte will grow up to be Aston Villa fans.

In his first broadcast interview since the birth of Charlotte on 2 May, which will be broadcast on BBC One at 12:10 BST this Saturday, Prince William talked about:

• how he first became an Aston Villa fan

• his thoughts about Aston Villa under Tim Sherwood

• his role as FA president

• his desire to see racism in football "stamped out"

• his support for grassroots football

Prince William said he became a Villa fan when he was at school because he was keen to follow a team that could give him more "emotional moments".

"I was looking round for clubs to support and all my friends at school were either Manchester United fans or Chelsea fans," he said.

"I didn't really want to follow the run-of-the-mill teams, and I wanted to have a team that was more middle of the table, that could give me the more emotional rollercoaster moments. To be honest, now looking back, that was a bad idea…I could have had an easier time!"

Prince William plans to let his children make their own choice when it comes to choosing the team they support but said it would be hard not to encourage them to follow in his footsteps.

"The responsible thing would be to say, to let [George] make his own mind up, but I think I might be quite biased," he added.

"I haven't quite worked out how to play that yet. Of course he can support whoever he wants, but if he supports Villa, it'd be fantastic. I'd love to go to the odd match with him in the future.

"It'll probably end up being that Charlotte is the Villa fan and George will go and support someone else!"

As for when he will take his eldest child, Prince George, to his first football match, Prince William admitted that may not be his decision to make.

He said: "I don't know, I'll have to pass that by the missus, see how I can get away with it!

"At the moment, being only 22 months, it's a little bit early."

Aston Villa have won the FA Cup seven times but their last victory was in 1957.

Whatever happens on Saturday, Prince William believes the club has a bright future with Tim Sherwood as manager.

He said: "I think it's been an interesting season for Villa, the last two seasons have been quite hard work, being close to relegation

"The guys have battled through, they've done seriously well, and I'm really excited about Tim's leadership, he's doing a really great job with them."

To see the full interview, tune into the BBC's live FA Cup final coverage from 12:10 BST this Saturday on BBC One.