Tricia Nixon and then-Prince Charles.Photo:David Cairns/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty
David Cairns/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty
The Washington Postrecounted an amusing story aboutKing Charles’first time at a baseball game when he visited the United States as a 21-year-old in 1970, a year afterhe was formally crownedthe Prince of Wales.The Postdove into its archives ahead of the Washington Nationals’ second annual “US-UK Friendship Day” this week and republished its reporter’s firsthand account of the then-Prince Charles’ July 18, 1970, trip to see the team then known as the Washington Senators host the California Angeles.
Charles and his then-19-year-old sister Princess Anne attended the game with President Richard Nixon’s daughters Julie and Tricia,The Postreported. Julie’s husband, David Eisenhower, was a Senators employee and arranged the visit to the ballpark, according to the outlet.
In a 2021 interview with CNN, the recently crowned King quipped that the Nixons “were trying to marry me off to Tricia” at the time, calling his experience during the three-day U.S. visit “quite amusing.”
From left: Tricia Nixon, then-Prince Charles, and David Eisenhower.Nick Machalaba/Penske Media via Getty
Nick Machalaba/Penske Media via Getty
At the ballpark,The Postreported temperatures reached 91 degrees, causing Charles to ask the group to instead head up to a shaded press box rather than bear the sun beating down on the stands.
Up there, Charles, Anne, Julie and Tricia watched on as the two mediocre teams played to a 4-0 Senators victory with little more than 8,500 other fans in attendance, many of whom had cameras with them and tried to take photos of the royal family members,The Postreported at the time.
There was only one home run in the game, which happened in the eighth inning — long after Charles and Anne left the ballpark.During the game,The Postreported that Charles “appeared very studious” but struggled to understand the rules despite Eisenhower’s attempts to explain them.
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Overall, Charles’ sole visit to a Major League Baseball stadium “was apparently an experience of some bewilderment,”The Postwrote.
While the King may have had trouble wrapping his head around American’s national pastime, Charles has a long history of interest in sports more familiar in England. Throughout his youth and into the mid-2000s, Charles frequently played polo, inheriting a passion for the game through his father, Prince Philip, even playing alongside him in tournaments.
source: people.com
