Considering all the darts that have been thrown at the Royal family of late by Omid Scobie and Co, perhaps it was brave of them to invite along Fallon Sherrock.
Thankfully, there was no spikiness on this occasion as the ‘Queen of the Palace’ left her Dynasty 24g steel tips at home when she met the future King at Windsor Castle last month.
Prince William awarded Sherrock, 29, an MBE and three weeks after receiving that honour, the former hairdresser from Milton Keynes begins this chat with a confession: she was more nervous to meet His Royal Highness than whenever she has stepped on stage at Alexandra Palace.
‘I didn’t know who I was going to meet at the time,’ she tells Mail Sport as we sit down at Oche The Strand in London, wearing her trademark pink ahead of the start of the World Darts Championship on Friday.
‘When I knew it was Prince William, it was, “Oh my God”. I genuinely wanted to meet William. I was panicking. I’m thinking, “Don’t fall over”, because I’m wearing heels and I’m not used to them and my feet hurt. When he started talking, I lost my words. I was like, “Yes. Yes. Yes”.
I’m thinking, “Focus. Don’t embarrass yourself”. He told me he’d seen it broadcast. I was like, “You’ve seen darts on TV?” He started laughing at me, “Yes, I’ve seen it on the television”, all in his posh voice. He said he likes the concept, how you can go to the pub and play with your friends.’
Sherrock knew Prince Harry had visited Ally Pally for the darts but was taken aback by Prince William’s knowledge. ‘He genuinely knew quite a bit,’ she says. ‘He was asking how I got into it, about my family, when my next competitions were, and he said he’d see if he could watch it to keep an eye on me.’
