"What do I do?": Barry Hearn recalls puzzled Prince Harry reacting to raucous Ally Pally crowd and 'sad' rule he followed

Barry Hearn has been at the helm of the PDC for many years, serving as president since 2021. In his podcast, "The Barry Hearn Show', he recalled meeting "years ago" with Prince Harry, who was then one of the spectators at the PDC World Darts Championship.

When the crowd began noticing the Prince and trying to get his attention, Hearn said Harry was reluctant to engage with them for fear of how he would be perceived. 'I remember sitting there years ago with Prince Harry and he'd just come out of the army he was obviously on a bit of a bender I think," said Hearn.

'At one stage the crowd started chanting because - the rules were quite strict - we were allowed to put his face on the big screen three times during the evening, just a flash, and the cameramen were allowed to take two pictures, that was it.

'So he was having a proper night out with his mates having a few pints enjoying himself. And the crowd started chanting, Harry give us a wave and he looked at me, and I saw a bit of inquisitiveness in his face as if to say, 'what do I do'?'

"I looked at him and said, if you stand up now and you wave to these people, your street credibility is assured for life because you've identified with the normal man," Hearn continued.

"And he looked at me and he said 'I'm not sure I'm allowed to'. And I thought that was quite sad. He shouldn't be living in a world where you've got rules like that."

The prince would eventually visit the World Darts Championship several times, including at a Stephen Bunting match against James Wade. Bunting later joked, "I didn't know Harry was here. I'm going to have a pint with him now! But it is great that darts is getting this type of coverage."