The Sport The Queen Enjoyed Playing With Her Family
Following Queen Elizabeth's death, everyone around the world is grieving the loss of a world-renowned figure — even football fans.
The queen died on Thursday, after being put under medical supervision by her doctors. Following the news, King Charles III announced that a "period of Royal Mourning be observed from now until seven days after The Queen's Funeral" (via CBS). And as the country begins to mourn the loss of their monarch, football organizations within the United Kingdom have chosen to postpone their games until further notice. But the decision was not marked by the mourning period — as the teams were not mandated to cancel or postpone their games — but rather a choice the organizations made themselves out of respect for the loss of Queen Elizabeth. According to the BBC, the Premier League explained the organization would be postponing 10 games in order to remember the queen's "extraordinary life and contribution to the nation."
The tribute and respect to Queen Elizabeth football is displaying makes sense, as the queen was a fan and a sponsor of the Football Association of England. And now, following the queen's passing, royal experts are revealing that Queen Elizabeth's association with football went further than just respecting and watching the United Kingdom's teams.
Queen Elizabeth enjoyed playing football with the royal family
Queen Elizabeth didn't just love to support the British football teams on the field, in fact, the monarch enjoyed getting into the game herself when playing against her royal family members.
According to royal biographer Robert Jobson, when Queen Elizabeth joined the game, she played an extremely important role and was ready to take down her royal opponents. "During holidays — Christmas and the New Year at Sandringham and most of the summer holidays at Balmoral — the whole family would play football, with the diminutive queen acting as a goalkeeper," Jobson explained in his book, "Charles at Seventy: Thoughts, Hopes and Dreams" (via the Daily Star). Yet, while it was known the queen was a fond football player, neither Jobson nor Buckingham Palace revealed how often the queen played with her family or when the queen stopped playing the sport.
Off the field, however, Queen Elizabeth remained a devout football fan throughout her life — though fans and the Brits were never able to pinpoint the queen's favorite football team. But now, following the queen's death, as certain teams within the Premier League have chosen to postpone their games — and others have not — maybe the teams are dropping a hint that one of their biggest fans just so happened to be the queen.