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| Spot of polo to close US tour has Prince Harry champing at the bit | Spot of polo to close US tour has Prince Harry champing at the bit |
| (5 days later) | |
| Prince Harry rode on to the pitch at 3pm, after a morning of rain and before 400 shivering spectators. It was the last day of his week-long US tour and he was finally allowed some relief: a polo match in Greenwich, Connecticut, where the guests – who only marginally outnumbered the media – didn't require him to sympathise or offer encouragement; merely to ride a horse. (Although the match was, of course, for charity). | Prince Harry rode on to the pitch at 3pm, after a morning of rain and before 400 shivering spectators. It was the last day of his week-long US tour and he was finally allowed some relief: a polo match in Greenwich, Connecticut, where the guests – who only marginally outnumbered the media – didn't require him to sympathise or offer encouragement; merely to ride a horse. (Although the match was, of course, for charity). |
| In contrast to rowdier responses he has had on this trip, the Greenwich crowd applauded politely. For several hours, they had been arriving in cream-coloured Rolls-Royces and silver Range Rovers, to pick their way around the sodden edge of the polo field and keep up brave smiles for the cameras. | In contrast to rowdier responses he has had on this trip, the Greenwich crowd applauded politely. For several hours, they had been arriving in cream-coloured Rolls-Royces and silver Range Rovers, to pick their way around the sodden edge of the polo field and keep up brave smiles for the cameras. |
| This was not a celebrity event. Previous polo matches played by the prince in the US have attracted the likes of Madonna, but Greenwich Polo Club solicits a more discreet crowd. "Jason Wu and a bunch of models," was how one TV anchor despairingly described it, but it was older and wealthier than that, skewed less towards fashion than society; many of the women's hats were the size of unfolded tortillas, and stewards handed them what looked like small coasters, to attach to their heels and prevent them from sinking into the mud. | This was not a celebrity event. Previous polo matches played by the prince in the US have attracted the likes of Madonna, but Greenwich Polo Club solicits a more discreet crowd. "Jason Wu and a bunch of models," was how one TV anchor despairingly described it, but it was older and wealthier than that, skewed less towards fashion than society; many of the women's hats were the size of unfolded tortillas, and stewards handed them what looked like small coasters, to attach to their heels and prevent them from sinking into the mud. |
| If Harry's stroll along the Jersey shore with New Jersey governor Chris Christie was a moment of cognitive dissonance, Greenwich was familiar turf for the prince: rolling green fields, mature trees, multi-million dollar houses and local residents who, in statements to the press that defied the mild fun being poked at them, spoke of celebrating the Queen's birthday every year and maintaining an enthusiasm for bunting. | If Harry's stroll along the Jersey shore with New Jersey governor Chris Christie was a moment of cognitive dissonance, Greenwich was familiar turf for the prince: rolling green fields, mature trees, multi-million dollar houses and local residents who, in statements to the press that defied the mild fun being poked at them, spoke of celebrating the Queen's birthday every year and maintaining an enthusiasm for bunting. |
| The match itself, divided into four chukkas, was as impenetrable as polo always is to non-polo players – the whole thing might have been invented by JK Rowling – no more so than when the commentator praised Harry for "working both sides of the horse." It wasn't always clear when a goal had been scored, but during the course of the game something else become clear. To witness the prince, flame-cheeked, thunder up and down the field waving a mallet, was to understand for the first time the appeal of the game to those whose lives are otherwise lived in a straitjacket. Having watched him submit to the school-trip like earnestness of royal tour for a week, it was any wonder he didn't jump the fence and steer the horse westward to freedom. | The match itself, divided into four chukkas, was as impenetrable as polo always is to non-polo players – the whole thing might have been invented by JK Rowling – no more so than when the commentator praised Harry for "working both sides of the horse." It wasn't always clear when a goal had been scored, but during the course of the game something else become clear. To witness the prince, flame-cheeked, thunder up and down the field waving a mallet, was to understand for the first time the appeal of the game to those whose lives are otherwise lived in a straitjacket. Having watched him submit to the school-trip like earnestness of royal tour for a week, it was any wonder he didn't jump the fence and steer the horse westward to freedom. |
| His team won the match, and the consensus seems to be that Harry has won with this tour, cruising through his public appearances with the easy charm he displayed in Jamaica last year, and, to the palace's relief no doubt, slightly less charm than he displayed in Las Vegas. There were awkward moments, mostly brought on by the anachronism of deference in a non-deferential age (in fact, if these tours teach us anything, it's that the condition of royalty is fundamentally embarrassing.) But there were some touching ones, too, notably the prince saluting in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington cemetery and laying a wreath with a note, reminiscent of another note by Harry, on another wreath. | His team won the match, and the consensus seems to be that Harry has won with this tour, cruising through his public appearances with the easy charm he displayed in Jamaica last year, and, to the palace's relief no doubt, slightly less charm than he displayed in Las Vegas. There were awkward moments, mostly brought on by the anachronism of deference in a non-deferential age (in fact, if these tours teach us anything, it's that the condition of royalty is fundamentally embarrassing.) But there were some touching ones, too, notably the prince saluting in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington cemetery and laying a wreath with a note, reminiscent of another note by Harry, on another wreath. |
| The biggest winner at the polo, meanwhile, apart from Sentebale, the Lesotho children's charity in whose aid it was played, was Peter Brant, the owner of the Greenwich polo venue, whose clubhouse is decorated with several Andy Warhols and a sculpture of his wife, Stephanie, cupping her naked breasts and looming out from the wall like a taxidermy stag's head. (Google it for pictures; you won't regret it). Prince Harry walked past it on his way to lunch without comment, which displayed both the advantages and drawbacks of the tactful younger royals. As with so much in life, it was a moment that really cried out for Prince Phillip. | The biggest winner at the polo, meanwhile, apart from Sentebale, the Lesotho children's charity in whose aid it was played, was Peter Brant, the owner of the Greenwich polo venue, whose clubhouse is decorated with several Andy Warhols and a sculpture of his wife, Stephanie, cupping her naked breasts and looming out from the wall like a taxidermy stag's head. (Google it for pictures; you won't regret it). Prince Harry walked past it on his way to lunch without comment, which displayed both the advantages and drawbacks of the tactful younger royals. As with so much in life, it was a moment that really cried out for Prince Phillip. |
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