Prince Harry reminded New Yorkers on Saturday how much his mother had loved their city, then climbed onto a pony for a rousing game of polo to raise money for impoverished children in Africa.
On a brilliantly sunny day on Governors Island in New York Harbor, the 24-year-old prince drew a crowd that included stars like Madonna, actresses Kate Hudson and Chloe Sevigny, and rapper LL Cool J, but also lots of ordinary New Yorkers out for a rare sight: a polo game in the city.
“You see this out in the Hamptons, but not so much in the city,” said Vincent Hodgins of Manhattan, who brought his two sons to watch the prince play.
The Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic was a fundraiser for Sentebale, the charity that Harry has set up with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to help poor children and AIDS orphans in that small African nation surrounded by South Africa.
“Prince Seeiso and I both lost our mothers when we were very young,” Harry said in brief remarks before the match. “We set up Sentebale in their memory, and because my mother loved this city, it makes this occasion all the more poignant for me.”
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