England have been hailed as heroes who should be “so proud” of themselves for their efforts in reaching their first major final in more than half a century.

In a nail-biting final of the Euros, the Three Lions faced an agonising defeat in a penalty shootout at Wembley.

Prince William, who was at the match with the Duchess of Cambridge and their son Prince George, urged the players to “hold your heads high”.

In a tweet from the KensingtonRoyal account, signed W, the Duke of Cambridge congratulated the Italian football team on their win.

He wrote: “Heartbreaking. Congratulations @Azzurri on a great victory. @England, you’ve all come so far, but sadly this time it wasn’t our day. You can all hold your heads high, and be so proud of yourselves – I know there’s more to come.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was also at the match with his wife Carrie, tweeted: “That was a heartbreaking result to end #Euro2020 but Gareth Southgate and his @England squad played like heroes.

“They have done the nation proud and deserve great credit.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer sent his commiserations to a team that demonstrates “the very best of our country”.

He tweeted: “Heartbreaking. On and off the pitch, this team is the very best of our country. They’ve done us proud.”

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey wrote: “Amazing team, amazing tournament, very proud”.

Liam Gallagher and Stephen Fry were among the stars sending commiserations to the England team.

Oasis singer Gallagher sent a message of support to 19-year-old Bukayo Saka, who took the final penalty, which was saved by Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

He tweeted simply: “Love saka.”

He added: “It’s all good Bruv I love you kid we go and smash the World Cup. It is what it it is.”

Fry wrote : “Alright, football gods, I’ll wait another 55 years then. But I warn you, unless biotech comes up with something impressive, I’ll fairly certainly be dead…

“Bah, grr, poo and bother.”

Singer Rebecca Ferguson tweeted: “Well done England and congratulations Italy It was a close game and the players played well!

“Sending love to our England team, you did us all proud Don’t feel down everybody is proud of you.”

Singer Adele watched the final from the US and shared a picture showing her in her England shirt after the game.

“You did us so proud!” Adele wrote. “You brought our game home and brought us all together.”

Dua Lipa said she was watching the game during a video shoot and shared a picture of her impromptu set up.

After Italy had been declared champions, the pop star posted a picture of Saka and wrote: “All the boys made us so proud!!!!! Well done on such a great game!

“We love you England we’ll bring it home soon enough.”

Actor Idris Elba shared a picture of Saka while model Jourdan Dunn posted snaps of all the players who failed to score a penalty, as well as Raheem Sterling, and wrote: “KINGS.”

Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, shared a selfie of him looking blue in his England shirt and wrote: “YeUgGHhh.”

He also congratulated Italy.