Baby gifts weren’t the only thing Duchess Meghan walked away with when she accompanied her husband, Prince Harry, to the recent history-making MLB London Series baseball game — she also learned she had a distant relative in the clubhouse.
The Suits alum, 37, and the former military pilot, 34, paid a visit to both the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox’s locker rooms ahead of the Saturday, June 29, game.
“My great, great, great, great,” Mookie Betts, the Red Sox right fielder, nervously began to explain to a beaming Meghan before getting to the point. “We’re family somehow!”
And the Duchess of Sussex had a royal reaction. “Oh!” she excitedly exclaimed before embracing Betts in a hug. As the entire team erupted in laughter, Harry quipped: “Does anyone else want to claim they’re family?”
The Boston Globe reported in May 2018 that Meghan and Betts, 26, are possibly linked by family members from over 150 years ago. It’s also known that the two are related by a marriage in the 1920s between Meghan’s great-great aunt Katie Betts and the athlete’s grand uncle Richard Betts.
The London Series marked the first time two Major League Baseball teams have competed against each other in Europe. The two-game series also supported the Invictus Games, an organization in which Harry is royal patron of.
Ahead of the game on Saturday, Meghan and Harry walked hand in hand onto the field alongside 10 Invictus Games participants, two who threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The Duke of Sussex started the international project in order to give wounded British armed forces veterans a chance to compete in sporting events.
During their time at the ballpark, Meghan and Harry were given a custom “Archie” Yankees jersey from the Bronx Bombers for their 8-week-old son. On the back of the uniform shirt, the number 19 gave a nod to the year the little one was born. The Red Sox also got in on the fun, gifting the couple — who wed in May 2018 — a onesie for Archie.
The baseball game marked one of the first public outings Meghan and Harry have stepped out together for since the California native gave birth last month. The duo — with Archie in tow — are set to travel as a family of three in October for a royal tour of Africa.
