Prince William has been pictured cheering on Wales as they compete in their Six Nations campaign against Italy. The Prince of Wales, who is patron of the Welsh Rugby Union, regularly attends both men and women's fixtures and has previously been accompanied by his wife Catherine, who holds a similar position with the Rugby Football Union. The couple have joked about supporting rival teams during the Six Nations, with the prince backing Wales and the princess backing England.

Wales could achieve their first home victory against Italy since 2020 in Saturday's game at Cardiff's Principality Stadium, but might otherwise finish with the annual rugby tournament's wooden spoon, having lost all four games so far. They will face stiff competition, with Italy beating England for the first time in their history last weekend.

Wales have lost 15 successive Six Nations matches - with their last victory coming in Italy over three years ago. But Italy also lost 36 consecutive Six Nations games between 2015 and 2022, and lost all five matches as recently as 2023.

William appeared in the stands as the game kicked off this afternoon after issuing a heartfelt message to Swimathon UK, the world's largest annual fundraising swimming event, this morning.

The prince hailed the "hundreds of thousands of people taking part while raising millions for life-changing charities," as the event celebrates its 40th anniversary.

William said in the message: "Congratulations to Swimathon UK on 40 years of bringing people together through swimming. It's so inspiring to see hundreds of thousands of people taking part while raising millions for life-changing charities."

He signed the message with his initial "W".

The Prince of Wales previously attended the Women's Rugby World Cup between Wales and Fiji at Sandy Park in Exeter last year, and shared photos on Instagram meeting players and shaking their hands.

The online post was captioned: "Commiserations to @welshrugbyunion. You fought hard and made the nation proud."