It’s been less than a couple of weeks since the wedding of the year – and pretty much any other year for that matter – but the feelgood factor remains, and that is especially so at Gotherington Cricket Club who are preparing for a royal party of their own.

Four weeks to the day after Harry and Meghan tied the knot at Windsor Castle, a ceremony watched by millions around the globe, the village cricket club just a handful of miles outside Cheltenham are set to play a team who go by the name of The Royal Household CC.

The game, which has become an annual fixture, takes place on Saturday 16th June, and Brian Cosgrove, who has done so much for Gotherington Cricket Club over the years, said: “It’s Her Majesty’s cricket team and their ground is in Windsor Castle. It’s a great fixture and when they visited us in 2016 they turned up in their club’s jackets and ties which they only do on a few key games per season.

“This is the fourth year that we’ve played them – this year’s game is at Gotherington – and we do special teas, a barbecue and the beers flow. We treat them ’royally’ like they treat us.”

Gotherington’s fixture secretary is one Edward Gillespie, who was the face of Cheltenham Racecourse for more than two decades before he retired five or so years ago.

“As fixture secretaries go, they don’t come much better than Edward with all his contacts,” added Cosgrove, “although I think the initial contact with The Royal Household was through Rob Sharp, who has played for us for many years, because he was asked to guest for them in one of their games.

“When we first played them in 2015 we thought it would just be a one-off, but they said they’d happily come to us in 2016 and it’s gone from there.

“We’re really looking forward to playing them again.”

Gotherington are a predominantly Sundays only team although this particular fixture will be played on a Saturday.

“We play only friendly fixtures,” said Cosgrove. “although it’s getting harder and harder to find them because so many teams don’t want to play games on Saturdays and Sundays.

“But we still maintain a good fixture list and that’s all credit to Edward. Last season we had 47 players play for the club.”

Cosgrove is likely to have a watching brief on 16th June although he will still be very much involved. The 63-year-old, a former first team captain, played in one 20-overs game in 2017, and these days is the club’s treasurer and groundsman.