YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. The Duke of Cambridge has admitted he will have to ask "the missus" for permission before he is allowed to take Prince George to his first football match.

The Aston Villa fan suggested that his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, ruled the roost when it came to decisions about their two children's upbringing.

Interviewed by Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker ahead of the FA Cup Final between Aston Villa and Arsenal, the Duke admitted that he hoped his son would follow in his footsteps and support the Birmingham team as it would be "fantastic" to attend matches with him in the future.

Giving his first broadcast interview since the birth of Princess Charlotte earlier this month, the 32-year-old spoke about how he became a Villa fan, his nerves ahead of Saturday's match and his desire to stamp out racism in the game.

Asked how long it would be before he takes Prince George to his first football match, the Duke said: "I don’t know, I’ll have to pass that by the missus, see how I can get away with it! At the moment, being only 22 months, it’s a little bit early."

Questioned about whether he would encourage either of them to be Aston Villa fans, he added: "The responsible thing would be to say, let him make his own mind up, but I think I might be quite biased!

"I haven’t quite worked out how to play that yet. Of course he can support whoever he wants, but if he supports Villa, it’d be fantastic. I’d love to go to the odd match with him in the future.”

He said his four-week-old daughter would probably end up supporting his team while his son went his own way.

The Duke said he chose to follow Villa at school because his friends all supported Manchester United or Chelsea and he wanted something less "run of the mill".

He laughed: "I wanted to have a team that was more middle of the table, that could give me the more emotional rollercoaster moments – to be honest, now looking back, that was a bad idea. I could have had an easier time!"

He said he remembered sitting in the stands among all the fans wearing his red beanie hat when Aston Villa beat Bolton in the FA Cup semi-final in 2000.

"It was just the atmosphere, the camaraderie, and I really felt that there was something I could connect with,” he added.

As FA president, the Duke will be responsible for handing the cup to the winning side's captain and he admitted he would be "terrified" while watching the game.

Arsenal are the current holders of the title and he joked that plenty of rival fans had been taunting him ahead of the match.

The Duke, who returned to royal duties last week after taking two weeks' unpaid paternity leave, also said that he would like to see racism stamped out in all football competitions and more homegrown talent to come up through the system.

He is due to return to work with the East Anglian Air Ambulance service on Monday, when he will start a three-week training block.

Lineker said: "It was fascinating to spend some time with The Duke of Cambridge and hear more about his passion for the game. He is genuinely excited about the Cup Final and it's great that we can showcase his enthusiasm for Villa to the Match of the Day audience."