England to have open-top bus parade through London if Southgate's side beat Spain in Euro 2024 final
12 July 2024, 13:58
England will be given an open-top bus parade through London if they win their first European Championship this Sunday.
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The Three Lions would travel from Guildhall in the City of London to Buckingham Palace to be honoured by King Charles, the Prince of Wales and other members of the Royal Family.
Gareth Southgate’s side are set to face Spain in the final of Euro 2024 in Berlin, three years after losing out to Italy on penalties at the same stage in 2021.
Preparations are already underway, the Evening Standard reports, with the celebratory parade expected to take place on Tuesday.
Prince William, who is president of the FA, is expected to lead the royal reception at Guildhall.
Tuesday’s celebrations would follow the squad travelling to Number 10 to meet the Prime Minister on Monday within hours of returning to the UK the same day.
This comes after Sir Keir Starmer refused to confirm whether victory against Spain would lead to a bank holiday after calls came from the Liberal Democrats for the extra day off following England’s 2-1 win against the Netherlands in the semi-final.
The Prime Minister said "we should certainly mark the occasion" if Southgate’s side triumph, but said he doesn’t “want to jinx anything”.
Sir Keir is expected to travel to Berlin to watch the game on Sunday with England hoping for their first major trophy since 1966 and their first-ever major trophy on foreign soil.
Following England’s 1966 success, captain Bobby Moore was presented with the trophy by the Queen at Wembley Stadium with the team also enjoying a bus tour through the capital.
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The trophy parade this weekend could see up to one million fans line the street to welcome the Three Lions team home.
The celebratory event will not take place if Spain win their third European title in 16 years but Southgate could still be knighted after leading England to their second successive Euros final.
Three Lions captain Kane is expected to be given an upgrade to his MBE with success on Sunday while other members of the squad could be handed honours as well.
The rumours of the parade come after the Lionesses were controversially not given one after their Euros success in 2022 after beating Germany in the final.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan and the Football Association (FA) received strong criticism for the decision that was slammed as “disgusting” at the time.
There was a peak viewership of 21.6 million across TV and streaming for ITV’s coverage of England’s Wednesday’s semi-final - the highest peak audience on a single channel since the nation’s World Cup quarter-final defeat against France.
Southgate’s side left it late as Ollie Watkins’ goal in the final seconds of normal time saw them take the lead after Kane’s first-half penalty cancelled out Xavi Simons’ opener.
The Aston Villa man’s late strike sparked wild celebrations from fans watching in the stadium and at home.
The scenes of euphoria were widespread in fan zones across the country while pubs and bars were full of happy punters as they stayed open later than usual.
The Killers even got involved as they played the last moments of the match on a big screen during their gig at the O2 Arena in London, before going straight into a rendition of Mr Brightside.
