Luke Littler has offered to provide the tickets for the Prince of Wales to make his Alexandra Palace debut later this year after they chatted about darts at Windsor Castle.
Littler collected the MBE awarded for his contribution to the sport last Tuesday when he was told by Prince William that the World Championship at the lively north London venue “looks like a good night out”.
The 19-year-old from Warrington admits visiting the royal residence was a surreal experience.
“Prince William said he’s been following the journey and we were just talking about how darts has blown up,” Littler told the Press Association.
“He even said himself it looks like a good night out, so maybe we’ll see Prince William at Ally Pally this year!
“I didn’t invite him, but if he needs a few tickets I’m sure myself or the PDC will sort some.
“Turning up to Windsor Castle, it was just like….’how am I here? Why am I here?’. It was a crazy experience. And then you’ve just got to think about what I’ve done for the sport.
“Obviously they don’t usually come to people so young, but for what I’ve done for my sport, it’s been incredible and the notice has been fantastic.”
Littler returns to the oche at the Premier League finals on Thursday night and plans to let his “darts do the talking” if confronted by any heckling from the O2 crowd.
The world number one, nicknamed ‘The Nuke’, was booed at Alexandra Palace in December and has also been jeered in Liverpool, Brighton and Sheffield, as well as at competitions in Europe.
His closest rival Luke Humphries believes the animosity is because “everybody wants to knock someone down that’s doing well” – and Litter has his response ready if it happens again.
“The only way to deal with it is to put your head down and win – and that’s what I’ve done,” Littler said.
“I’ve kept on winning, kept on winning, and I’ve just got to really knuckle down now for Thursday. If it comes at certain times on stage, then the darts have got to do the talking.”
Littler and Humphries have met in the last two Premier League finals with the world number one losing his title to ‘Cool Hand’ last year.
The rivals are expected to clash again and Littler would be satisfied with negotiating semi-final opponent Gerwyn Price and reaching the competition’s showpiece for a third successive year.
“If I can make it three finals in a row, I’ll be happy, but I’ll just try and beat Gezzy first,” he said.
“Some people want to see me against Luke in the final, some people might say it’s a bit boring now – Luke and Luke.
“But if we’re both winning, if we’re both getting to finals, one and two, no-one can do anything about it.
“We’ve shared most majors over the past year or two, but let’s see what happens Thursday.”
:: Xbox ambassador Luke Littler was at Virgin Media Gamepad where he surprised and delighted a superfan by playing a game of darts and the brand-new Forza Horizon 6.
