Britain’s Prince Harry gave New Yorkers a fright during his visit to the city.
The Prince was rounding off his visit to the Big Apple with a charity polo match on an island off Manhattan.
Suddenly, during the first chukka of the match, the Prince was ingloriously tossed off his pony.
The royal hit the turf in spectacular fashion, landing heavily and rolling on the ground as hundreds of spectators and fellow players looked on.
The match was stopped for a few moments to allow the 25-year-old to compose himself and remount.
It’s not the first polo-related mishap for Harry. In a charity match in Barbados earlier this year, he also found himself sprawled on the ground.
The son of the late Princess Diana was pitted against the best-known player in the equestrian sport, Argentinian Nacho Figueras.
The 3rd Annual Veuve Clicquot Polo Classic was played on Governor’s Island. It is staged to benefit 400,000 children of an AIDS-ravaged African nation. Harry has participated the past two years.
The United States “has always protected the downtrodden, the poorest, those most in need of help in the world,” Harry said before the match. “And to me, this is what the United States stands for.”
Harry mounted a polo pony as part of his pledge to continue his mother’s work. Princess Diana, who was often photographed embracing HIV-positive mothers and children, died in 1997 in a Paris car crash.
Sunday’s heat, topping 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius), “is a welcome relief after the snow and ice of Lesotho, where I was last week,” her son said of the southern African nation where he said he took his brother, Prince William, to show him the work of his charity.
Earlier, Harry joined guests in the VIP “marquee” – a fancy white tent where lunch tables for 10 overlooking the field went for as much as $50,000.
Proceeds from the day would go to American Friends of Sentebale, a charity set up in 2006 by Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho for “the vulnerable children of Lesotho,” where many children are AIDS orphans.
Harry said both he and the African prince wanted to follow the examples set by their mothers.
“Both were very much loved, and both loved people – both loved helping people who needed it the most,” he said.
About 100 children in Lesotho lose one or both of their parents each day, Harry said, adding that the orphaned children survive with no prospects of a regular nourishing diet and little hope of a meaningful education.
The tally for the day was not immediately available, but was likely hefty, given the minimum price for a table for 10 in the VIP marquee – $20,000. The $50,000 tables were closest to that of the prince. A picnic on the grass went for $250 per person.
There was a time when luxurious leisure was not the order of the day on Governor’s Island – 70 hectares about 400 metres from the southern tip of Manhattan Island. It was occupied by the US Coast Guard until 1996, and is now managed by the National Park Service.
Harry’s three-day visit to New York began on Friday at the West Point Military Academy north of the city, followed by UNICEF on Saturday, when he threw the first pitch at a Mets game.
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