Royal guest for Sir Ben before race

THE Duke of Edinburgh has taken to the waters to watch Sir Ben Ainslie prepare in his bid to bring back the America’s Cup to Britain for the first time in 165 years.

Philip was the guest of the Land Rover BAR team at their headquarters in Portsmouth, in his role as Admiral of the Royal Yacht Squadron (RYS), whose subsidiary, Royal Yacht Squadron Racing, is the official of the British team.

Following a tour of the high-tech centre, the 95-yearold boarded a small boat to witness one of the practice races ahead of the America’ s Cup World Series (ACWS), off the seafront of Portsmouth, this weekend.

Sir Ben’s team hopes to win the series for a second year running to earn points towards the finals.