One might have thought that as king-in-waiting and president of the Football Association, Prince William would be able to structure his day in such a way as to allow him to watch England’s matches in the ongoing World Cup without interruption.

However the Prince was reduced to begging the press corps not to tell him the score in England’s game against Panama in Russia after he missed the live game.

Or, perhaps commanding would be a better word: “On pain of death, please don’t tell me the score,” William told journalists attending the first press conference of a controversial royal tour of Jordan, Israel and the West Bank.

The prince finally sat down to watch the game on replay on a massive screen with his host, Crown Prince Hussein, who recorded the match.

The pair watched it together at a royal residence in the Jordanian capital Amman last night, and Kensington Palace subsequently tweeted out pictures of the pair chilling out in front of the game in what could be described as the world’s greatest man cave.

The incident recalled a 1976 episode of British TV sitcom The Likely Lads in which a character seeks to avoid finding out the score of an international match before watching the replay.

We’re sure William enjoyed the game when he finally saw it, as England thrashed Panama 6-1, a record number of goals for the English side in a World Cup game.

The royals have been banned from attending any of the World Cup games in Russia as part of  series of measures retaliating for the poisoning of the Skripals in England earlier this year.