Prince Harry returned to the polo field after a flying visit to the United Kingdom for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, when he reportedly only spent a ‘very formal’ 15 minutes with his grandmother.
The Duke of Sussex, 37, and his horse were unharmed after the incident at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club, but it was a poor omen for the royal, whose Los Padres team also lost the game 12-11 in front of his celebrity friends in California yesterday.
On the sidelines, Harry was spotted with pals including American idol runner-up Katharine McPhee, 38, her composer husband David Foster, 72, and their baby son Rennie, who appeared to be unfazed by the outcome.
Some have referred to Mr Foster, who is only a year younger than Prince Charles, as Harry’s “father figure.” Since he and Meghan left the royal family and moved to the United States, the prince has had a rocky relationship with the Prince of Wales and his brother William.
Friends say the Duke is ‘living his dream in the US,’ playing professional polo while living in a Montecito house with his wife and two children, as witnessed by a happy but sweaty Harry with his arm around colleague Nacho Figueras’ wife Delfina and fist pumping others who came to support him.
In the four-player lineup, the prince, who is sixth in line to the throne, is identified as H. Wales alongside his pal Nacho Figueras. The prince joined the Los Padres polo squad this year after mastering the sport with his brother William in the United Kingdom.
The Sussexes traveled in from California to attend the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, where they were rarely seen in public before jetting home again, and it was stated today that Harry only spent 15 minutes with her. Archie and Lilibet were nowhere to be seen.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited Windsor Castle shortly after their arrival in the United Kingdom. It was the first time Lilibet had met her great-grandmother, and the couple’s three-year-old son Archie was also present.
However, according to reports from yesterday, the meeting was ‘very formal’ and lasted only a quarter of an hour. On Sunday, a source told The Sun, ‘It was a quick in and out job.’
It comes as sources confirm that the Queen forbade Harry, 37, and Meghan, 40, from taking a photographer to film her great-introduction grandchild to her on June 2. Buckingham Palace did not respond to requests for comment, but sources said the pair was told it was a ‘private family gathering’.
During the journey to the UK, Lilibet turned one, and the couple celebrated at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor.
They invited William, Kate, and their three children, according to the New York Post, but the family did not show up. During their brief visit to the UK, Harry did not spend any alone time with William.
He was caught making a pose while playing polo in the California sun this weekend, barely a week after returning from the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in London.
The Duke of Sussex, 37, was seen out and about for the first time since returning to Los Angeles on June 5 with his buddy Nacho Figueras’ club Los Padres at the Cancha de Estrella Polo Club in Santa Barbara.
The red-faced prince was seen taking a rest with his hands behind his head and buried into his right hip after working up a sweat.
As he basked in the normal LA heat, he wore a green top, white trousers, black riding boots and knee pads, before mounting his brown horse and donning his helmet and protective eyewear for another round of play.
It comes after royal analysts claimed this week that Harry “must have gone home feeling quite dejected for what he has given up” after he and his wife Meghan Markle chose not to be more conspicuous in the Jubilee celebrations because “they did not have center stage seats.”
During the four-day celebrations, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, both 40, skipped the Platinum Jubilee Party and Pageant, as well as the Epsom Derby.
Meghan was not present at Harry’s team’s game against Dundee II on Friday, which Harry’s team lost 12-8.
Despite travelling down from the United States with their two children, Archie and Lilibet, the couple only made one public appearance during the Jubilee weekend.