When Kane Williamson met the Queen: "We spoke a little bit about the weather!"

All 10 captains were at the palace for the once-in-a-lifetime encounter, with Prince Harry also present to meet the players

From Mount Maunganui to Buckingham Palace – quite the change of scenery for Kane Williamson.

The New Zealand captain could scarcely contain his excitement as he recounted his royal visit ahead of the start of the World Cup.

“We spoke a little bit about the weather,” he laughed of his conversation with the Queen.

All 10 captains were at the palace for the once-in-a-lifetime meeting, where Prince Harry was also present.

“Very exciting,” Williamson added with a giddy smile. “A long, long way from New Zealand and life in New Zealand, so an opportunity to meet the queen was pretty special. One of those once in a lifetime experiences.”

He explained that prior to the Queen’s arrival, the skippers were placed in alphabetical order with the instruction that she would lead on the format of the occasion.

^{The Queen shares a joke with the captains.}

“It was very formal,” he said. “If she shook your hand then that was a bonus. [We were] very fortunate that she shook our hands and had a little chat.

Dressed in a plain black suit, the linchpin of the Black Caps’ batting lineup joked: “Board shorts and jandals weren’t appropriate!

“But it was a fantastic experience to go there. Being a tourist on a number of occasions and then to get the opportunity to go in and meet the Queen and Prince Harry was pretty cool.”

Williamson's New Zealand side get their World Cup campaign underway on Saturday when they take on Sri Lanka in Cardiff. The captain himself looked in fine touch in his country's final warm-up against the West Indies, making 85 from just 64 deliveries.

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