By Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter
Prince Harry fell off his horse in front of his celebrity friends as he returned to the polo field in California after a flying visit to Britain for the Queen‘s Platinum Jubilee where he reportedly only had a ‘quite formal’ 15 minutes with his grandmother.
The Duke of Sussex, 37, was unscathed in the incident at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club, as was his ride, but it was a bad omen for the royal whose Los Padres team also lost the match 12-11 yesterday.
Harry didn’t appear too downcast by the result, because he was seen hanging out with friends on the sidelines including American idol runner up Katharine McPhee, 38, her composer husband David Foster, 72, and their young son Rennie.
Mr Foster, who is just a year younger than Prince Charles, has been described by some as a ‘father figure’ to Harry. The prince is known to have a strained relationship with the Prince of Wales, and his brother William, since he and Meghan quit as royals and emigrated to the US.
Charles was also well known for falling off his horse in polo – breaking his arm on occasion and another spell in New Zealand where he tumbled from his ride three times in six weeks. In 2000 he was taken to hospital in Cirencester and forced to stay the night after a fall during a charity match in the Cotswolds when his sons, then 19 and 16, were on his team.
Yesterday a smiling but sweaty Harry was also seen with his arm around teammate Nacho Figueras’ wife Delfina and fist bumping others who came to support him, as friends said the Duke is ‘living his dream in the US’, playing professional levels of polo while living in a Montecito mansion with his wife and two children.
The royal, who is sixth in line to the throne, is listed as H. Wales in the four-player line-up with his friend Nacho. The prince joined polo team Los Padres this year, having played the sport for most of his life after learning in the UK with his older brother.
Today it was claimed he spent just 15 minutes meeting the Queen when the Sussexes flew in from California to attend her Platinum Jubilee celebrations, where they were barely seen in public before jetting home again. Archie and Lilibet weren’t seen at all.
