King Charles has given a symbolic show of support for the Afghan women's cricket team - which is now in exile and, because of the Taliban regime's ban on women's sport, is not allowed to represent its country.
The women told him how they escaped the Taliban in Afghanistan to keep their dreams of playing cricket alive.
"I'm so glad that you can pursue what you want to do," the King told the cricketers, giving them an enthusiastic welcome in Clarence House on a scorching morning.
Cricketer Ekil Latifi, who has not seen her family in Afghanistan for five years, said the team was representing all the women not allowed to play sport, adding: “It's all about the Afghan women back in our country.”
King Charles has met many touring sports teams - but this was unusual in being a team that is not officially allowed to exist.
The Taliban block on women's sport meant that Afghanistan's national cricket team for women was no longer allowed to take part in official competitions as representatives of the country.
Most of the team has now left Afghanistan, with the majority becoming refugees in Australia.
The King was showing his backing as the team arrived to play some exhibition matches, taking place while the women's T20 World Cup is hosted this summer in England.
"If you lose, you can blame me for interrupting your training," he told them.
Latifi, who left her own country in 2021 at the age of 17, during the evacuations from Afghanistan, wants the team to inspire women who are blocked from playing sport.
The cricket team's survival - and this royal meeting - was a chance to speak up for women in Afghanistan and to show "all the things that they can't do there", she said.
She said that cricket had become her life, as she now worked as a coach, but it was also a lesson in not giving up.
"In life, you get one chance. In cricket, if you're a batter, you might just bat once," she said.
Her ambition for the Afghan women's cricket team is to be able to play again, as the men's team currently does, as part of the official cricketing world and under their own national flag.
Team-mate Shabnam Snahsan said it was "so disappointing" that the team could not take part in this summer's World Cup.
But she was delighted that the Afghan women's team was meeting the King and welcomed the public show of solidarity.
"Back in Afghanistan, women don't have the right to play cricket, even to go out, to study or anything," she said.
“We're here to play cricket - but it's not just cricket, we're here to fight for them and this has meant a lot for us.”
In the Clarence House gardens, the King was given a signed shirt by the team and posed for photographs, and he told them he had played cricket once - "but not very well".
The players pinned an Afghan Women's XI badge on his summer suit, with the King still sporting a tie and suit in the heatwave conditions.
He was interested in their stories about how they had left, the languages they spoke at home - and asked if they had faced protests as female cricketers in Afghanistan.
They said before the official clampdown on women's cricket, there had not been much opposition, but told the King about their "terrifying journeys" and how they had escaped past Taliban checkpoints.
But the King faced a difficult bit of bowling in questions from the cricketers.
"Can I ask you a question?" said Latifi. “Can you say a posh word for me?”
When the King looked rather like he was facing a very tricky spin attack, she suggested: “A posh word like 'lavatory'.”
The King thought about venturing a reply, but then laughed and said: “I'd need advance warning of that...”
Speaking afterwards, the cricketer said she was learning English and wanted to find out some posh words to use, suggesting "marvellous" as another example.
She had met the King though, which is fairly posh - but along with her team-mates, their bigger ambition is to be allowed to play a sport they love, and to do it for their own country.
Source: BBC
– Agencies
