Duke and Duchess of Sussex visit Europe’s first major league baseball game
Written by News on 30/06/2019
The Duchess of Sussex met a distant family member as she made a surprise visit to the London Stadium to watch Europe’s first ever Major League Baseball game.
Meghan made the surprise appearance alongside the Duke, who was there in his role as the founder of the Invictus Games.
According to genealogist in the US, Meghan shares some ancestry with with Boston Red Sox player Mookie Betts, whom she met in the locker room at the London Stadium ahead of their game with the New York Yankees.
According to a Federal Consensus from 1870, Joseph Betts is Mookie’s great-great grandfather and Jacob Betts, who lived close to Joseph, is the great-great-great grandfather of the Duchess.
Meghan and Mookie hugged and he explained: “We’re family somehow.”
The two teams also presented the royal couple with a baseball jersey, with one from the Yankees emblazoned with “Archie 19” on the reverse.
Harry admitted his baseball knowledge was rusty, asking teams: “I’m not that current with baseball – who normally wins?”
In an interview to American broadcaster Fox, Red Sox manager Alex Cora said the visit was “a great moment for the team”.
He added that he was nervous though, saying: “I’ve got to be honest with you: between the instructions, the ‘be polite and say the right things,’ I was very, very nervous”
“I haven’t felt this nervous in a while.”
The visit was to promote Price Harry’s Invictus Games, which has partnered with the two-day baseball event in east London.
The games feature injured servicemen from around the world competing in sporting events, with next year’s competition being held in The Hague in the Netherlands.
Prince Harry posed for photos with volunteers on the pitch and the couple walked around the field, which was made up of dirt imported from the US and fake grass from France.
Invictus athletes from the UK and the US took part in throwing the ceremonial first pitch at the former Olympic stadium, overseen by the royals.
Meghan told Fox that she was “so glad they didn’t ask me to do it”, with Prince Harry adding, “so am I”, to laughter in the stadium.
The baseball game is the first to be played in Europe, with the company behind baseball in the US, Major League Baseball (MLB), reportedly looking into moving to the British market.
A number of NFL games are already played in London every year.
(c) Sky News 2019: Duke and Duchess of Sussex visit Europe’s first major league baseball game
