Holly Willoughby and Ant and Dec lead celebrity joy to Lionesses success

Even King Charles and Queen Camilla hailed England’s ‘mighty’ womens football team
A number of celebs including Holly Willoughby (left) have offered their congrats to England’s Lionesses following their semi-final victory
ES Composite
Tina Campbell16 August 2023
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Holly Willoughby and Ant and Dec have led the jubilant celebrity reactions online after England’s Lionesses sailed through to the Women’s Football World Cup final for the first time ever after a 3-1 victory over Australia.

They will now go head-to-head with Spain in the final on Sunday and as they move one step closer to bringing it home, their celeb fans couldn’t hide their delight.

This Morning presenter Willoughby took to Instagram to share a snap of the Lionesses in their post-match huddle, writing: “Utterly incredible... wow wee! Congratulations @lionesses #lionesses.”

Hailing the team’s performance as “incredible”, Geordie TV stars Ant and Dec posted a message of support on their shared X account, previously known as Twitter.

”Wow #Lionesses. You are incredible! Come on England!” they enthused.

Paddy McGuiness was also feeling it, sharing a picture of his TV as the final whistle blew, remarking: “Absolute, stone cold, class!!! Love this team!!! Bring on the final.”

Countdown stars Rachel Riley and Susie Dent shared an video clip of their reaction to the win as they filmed a new episode of the long-running Channel 4 show.

“YESSSSSSS! Cheering you on from the Countdown studios ⁦@Lionesses⁩,” Riley wrote in the accompanying caption.

Liam Gallagher tweeted: “Congratulations to the lionesses c’mon LG x.”

While Piers Morgan wrote: “Never thought I’d get up at 3am to watch women’s football, but I did and it was brilliant. Love these @Lionesses - such great ambassadors for England.”

Men’s England Captain Harry Kane also offered his own words of congratulations, penning: “Massive congratulations to the Lionesses. I was watching it and saw we went 1-0 up and then got pulled away [for training] but I saw it finished 3-1 so it sounds like a heck of a game.”

Perhaps the most impressive message however came from none other than King Charles and Queen Camilla.

“My wife and I join all our family in sending the mighty Lionesses our warmest congratulations on reaching the final of the World Cup, and in sharing our very best wishes for Sunday’s match,” read a statement from Buckingham Palace.

“While your victory may have cost the magnificent Matildas their chance for the greatest prize in the game, both teams have been an inspiration on and off the pitch – and, for that, both nations are united in pride, admiration and respect.”

The Prince of Wales echoed his father in his own tweet, writing: “What a phenomenal performance from the @Lionesses – on to the final!

“Commiserations to @TheMatildas, you’ve played brilliantly and been fantastic co-hosts of this World Cup.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in