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The King welcomed the Afghan women's cricket team to Clarence House today.
14:42, Wed, Jun 24, 2026 Updated: 14:43, Wed, Jun 24, 2026
King Charles meets the Afghan Refugee Women's Cricket Team (Image: Getty)
The King heard how the Afghan Refugee Women’s cricket team were able to “escape” the Taliban with just a bag on their backs, having burned all traces of their sporting careers. Charles listened intently as the brave women recalled the “terrifying” ordeal of being smuggled out of their home country when the Taliban resumed control of the country in 2021 and issued the women death threats.
Meeting the team at his London residence of Clarence House, the King asked: “So you had to escape as soon as you could, did you? In 2021? Was it difficult to get out of Afghanistan? Did you get out via Pakistan? And your families managed to come with you?”
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Firooza Amiri, 21, told the King: “It has been a very difficult and terrifying journey for all of us.
There were a lot of Taliban checkpoints. We thought it’s going to be the last one, we won’t survive any more. But we made it.”
The team, which is not recognised by their country where women’s sport is banned, is in the UK for a series of matches.
Speaking to the group of 15 players, Charles said: “I am so glad you can pursue what you really want to do.”
Since the Taliban returned to power, the rights of Afghan women and girls have been savagely curtailed.
Women are banned from universities, parks and from playing sports. It is also forbidden for their voices to be heard outside of their homes.
A hitlist of female athletes, including members of the cricket team, was circulated when the regime took control of the country in August 2021. A female volleyball player for the country’s national team was killed by the Taliban, and the women, many of whom were only teenagers, were forced into hiding.
The King has met the Afghan Refugee Women's Cricket Team at Clarence House this morning. ??????
Under the Taliban, women and girls are banned from playing sport, along with other restrictions
on their education, work and public life. Most members of the women’s cricket team fled the… pic.twitter.com/4iFQCNO1Iz
Having heard of their plight from an Indian journalist, former Australian cricketer Mel Jones devised a plan to bring the team to safety.
She joined forces with Emma Staples, now the Afghan team's manager, and Catherine Ordway, a sports lawyer who had helped evacuate Afghan women footballers, to secure visas and transport.
Ms Jones said: “There were about 134 people we got out. They had a backpack each with their entire lives and had to burn anything that said they played cricket, all their cricket equipment.”
Most of the women now live in Australia, with one in Canada and one in the UK. They will play the Cambridge University Cricket Club women’s team on Saturday.
“My old university,” the King said. While speaking to the women about how well they had learned different languages, one player asked the King to pronounce a “posh” word for them.
The King poses for a photo with the team (Image: Getty)
Ekil Latifi, 21, who fled to the UK from Afghanistan at the age of 17, said: “Your Majesty, would you give me a posh word, like ‘lavatory’? Do you have one for me?”
Charles laughed and replied: “I think I would need advance warning for that.”
Shabnam Ahsan, 18, from Kabul, said that it was “so disappointing” that the team cannot compete in the T20 Women’s World Cup hosted by England which coincides with their visit because they are not recognised by Afghanistan.
Ahsan added: “When we found out we were meeting the King it meant a lot to us and it means a lot back in Afghanistan where women don’t have the right to go out. We’re here to fight for them.”
Charles had planned to meet the team in the gardens at Clarence House, but the event, which was organised through the UK Foreign Office, was moved inside due to the heat wave.
Walking outside for a photocall, the King was presented with a shirt signed by the players and a decorated cricket bat.
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