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Royal haunting or bang on the head? Welsh see ghosts in Surrey

LONDON (Reuters) - Welsh preparations for their Rugby World Cup clash with Australia at Twickenham took a spooky twist on Monday with ghostly tales and talk of former King of England Henry VIII.

Royal haunting or bang on the head? Welsh see ghosts in Surrey
(Reuters)

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Source: Reuters


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Wales are staying at the Oatlands Hotel in Weybridge, originally the site of a grand royal palace which Henry, the second monarch in the Welsh Tudor dynasty, built for his fourth queen, Anne of Cleves, in the 16th century.

"A few boys think they've seen a ghost but I’m not sure they actually have. I think it's best to stay away from room 1313. Some of them reckon they have seen Henry VIII," prop Samson Lee told reporters on Monday.

"It has been discussed over food and stuff like that and Dan Lydiate isn't happy about it. He actually thinks he’s seen a ghost but I think he’s dreaming. He had a bang on the head and that might be the problem."

Flanker Lydiate suffered a bruised eye socket in the win over Fiji on Wednesday.

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Loose forward James King concurred with his front row colleague Lee.

"I think the boys might have had one too many knocks to the head. There are a couple of stories about Henry VIII here but I haven't seen any yet," he said.

"(Toby) Faletau and Lydiate have done their research and they said they saw a couple of ghosts the other week."

Wales are already through to the quarter-finals and their game against the Wallabies on Saturday will decide who wins Pool A.

(Reporting by Justin Palmer, editing by Nick Mulvenney)


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