As the Lionesses’ parade bus turned off The Mall onto the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, the sun broke through the clouds and onto the tens of thousands of adoring fans. Just in time, right at the last minute – perhaps it’d been taking notes over the last month.
It illuminated a crowd which looked to the untrained eye well in excess of the 50,000 anticipated by the FA. Men, women, boys, girls, grandparents, babies.
It was fitting that the journey to celebrate a second successive European Championship should end on royal territory because for many of the fans who flocked to The Mall on Tuesday morning, these players have reached that level of stardom.
People tore down blackout coverings put up to deter overcrowding, desperate to get a view of England’s victorious heroes. They climbed bollards, mounted railings and in some cases literally camped out overnight to be a part of history.
I met a family who had arrived at 1am so they could get the best view from The Mall, the famous mile-long road that leads down to the Palace.
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Leah Williamson holds back tears as she relives England’s Euros win at the Lionesses’ champion parade.
Two grandparents had been the subject of some impressive persuasion techniques from their 13-year-old granddaughter, clad in an England women’s shirt adorned with Alessia Russo’s name and number. “She’s been inspired to play football by the Lionesses,” they told me.
It can become cliched to label England Women as inspirational but the proof is undeniable on days like this. Three years ago, 7,000 fans crammed into Trafalgar Square to celebrate the 2022 European Championships. Central London would’ve been forcibly shut down if they held these celebrations in the same spot.
There are so many factors underpinning the growth of the women’s game – the birth of the WSL, the implementation of full-time contracts and increased television exposure have all played their part – but the Lionesses’ legacy takes centre stage. Even once the parade was officially over, all but a few fans remained to watch while the players took photos on the stage with friend and family.
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Hannah Hampton and Michelle Agyemang look back on their first ever major tournament and what it’s like to be the young stars that helped England win the Euros.
Another family, also there early enough for a front-row seat, explained how their 14-year-old daughter had literally changed her club allegiance after 2022 because of Leah Williamson’s captaincy. “I play as a striker but I love the way Leah manages the team on and off the field,” Evie said herself.
Williamson leads from the front in the same way Sarina Wiegman does from the top. She has been the consummate chieftain from day one, a history maker herself, but always the first to deflect from her own role and focus praise on her players.
Even when she was asked, minutes after Sunday’s final, how it felt to secure her third successive European Championship as a manager she immediately deflected the praise onto her squad and backroom staff.
But this was her moment to shine, with Burna Boy – who she name-checked nearly two years ago as her most-played artist – brought out especially to duet with her. She couldn’t let him down, could she?
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England manager Sarina Wiegman gets to dance with her favourite artist Burna Boy as they celebrate their Euros victory on the doorsteps of Buckingham Palace.
Watching England’s stoic figurehead dance, and rap, along to For My Hand was a surreal moment in a summer full of them. Michelle Agyemang’s double heroics. England’s blood-pressure-raising late shows. The tension of the penalty shoot-out in Sunday’s final.
Surreal was the word the normally unflappable England boss had for Tuesday’s celebrations too. “I would say it is a dream come true, but you can’t dream of this,” she told Sky Sports. “It was totally impossible in an earlier life and then you are here at Buckingham Palace on a bus with everyone waving and partying. I will never forget this in my life.”
She has been there and lived it, but for those of us who are later arrivals to this party it is worth taking a moment to appreciate that although there is a long way to go, the growth of the women’s game came a long way even before 2022.
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Sky Sports’ Anton Toloui and Ron Walker react to all of the action from the Lionesses’ 2025 Euro parade in London and unpacked their performance at the tournament as they recorded their second European crown.
Before then, the last Euros held on English soil was back in 2005, four years after Wiegman retired as a player. The Lionesses exited with a whimper in the group stages, finishing bottom of their group with cumulative crowd totals across three games barely exceeding the number of fans who turned out in London this week.
Back then England’s players fit tournament games around their day jobs. Now, Michelle Agyemang – who has still played a grand total of 144 minutes for her country – has arrived home from Switzerland with thousands of fans chanting her name.
There have been fears that the Lionesses legacy was dying off after the initial euphoria, both societally and financially, of 2022. In some cases, money has dried up and promises made have not been kept.
Accusations were made that a ceiling had been hit. But let this be a reminder of the bigger picture. The only question for now is where the crowds will fit in 2029.
