By Aime Pingi on
Prince Harry arrived last Friday, May 29th, in the United States of America. For his first journey in New York, Harry chained together visits, inaugurations and matches of polo, and tried to represent to best the British royal family.
Hardly arrived at the Big Apple, Prince Harry – third in the order of succession to the throne – began with a visit to the site of the World Trade Center, destroyed by the events of September 11th, 2001. The Prince then inaugurated with emotion the British Garden of Manhattan – dedicated to 67 British victims of these attacks – by planting symbolically a magnolia within the framework of the campaign of Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York, aiming to make the city more green.
Later, Prince Harry – who is presently undertaking a pilot’s training course in the army after having served in the land forces in Afghanistan – was keen to visit a health center for war veterans to speak to them.
On Saturday, the son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana showed his support for an association helping discriminated young people by attending a class of mathematics of Harlem: "Who is the best in the class? " he said “I was always the worst!”
A royal obstacle race was then organized, featuring Prince Harry and Prince Seesio of Lesotho, both founders of Sentebale, a charity helping the poor children of Africa. Although he came second in that race, Harry was able to catch up a little later during the day, during a match of polo at Governor Island to raise funds for “Sentebale”.
“Prince Seesio and I both lost our mothers when we were very young,” Harry said 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.”
The team led by the brother of Prince William competed against that of the Argentine model Nachos Figueras. Celebrities who attended the match included actress Chloë Sevigny, LL Cool J, dressmaker Marc Jacob and Madonna.
Harry’s team, named after the charity, proceeded to defeat the opposing Black Watch team 6-5. Harry assisted on the winning goal in the last seconds, drawing the biggest cheer of the afternoon. It was the second and final day of Harry’s first official visit to the United States.
Not tired for all that, Harry ended his day by a visit to the “Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum of Manhattan,” where he was able to admire the cockpit of the former Concorde of the British company British Airways, as well as air transport dating the Second World War.
Copyright © 2009 Look to the Stars
