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PICS: Queen Elizabeth with South African sporting stars
From Bryan Habana to Faf du Plessis, the late Queen Elizabeth II met some of SA's greatest sportsmen.
Queen Elizabeth II meets South Africa’s head coach Heyneke Meyer at a reception at Buckingham Palace to welcome Rugby World Cup stars on October 12, 2015. Picture: Anthony Devlin – WPA Pool/Getty Images
The late Queen Elizabeth, who passed away on Thursday, was a big sports fan and some fortunate South Africans got lucky to greet her during their travels around the world.
While several sporting events in the UK this weekend have been cancelled in a show of respect for the queen, the good news for cricket fans is the third and final Test between England and South Africa at the Oval in London will continue on Saturday after Friday’s play was called off.
Former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis is one South African to have met the queen, on the eve of the 2019 World Cup, which was held in the UK.
Du Plessis and other cricket captains met the queen at Buckingham Palace in the 1844 room. Below iss a picture of the gathering, with Du Plessis second from left at the back.
Some fortunate Springbok rugby players have also had the honour of shaking hands with the queen, among them Bryan Habana and Victor Matfield, during a reception at Buckingham Palace in 2015, during the Rugby World Cup.
Scrumhalf Fourie du Preez was also at the reception in 2015 and he, too, got to have a chat with the queen. Then coach Heyneke Meyer was also a guest at the queen’s London residence.
The Queen also met Hansie Cronje’s cricket side of 1994, on their tour of Pakistan. Here she is greeting the players, in particular Paul Adams, during the first Test in Rawalpindi in 1997.
