In front of cameras and a crowd of nearly 300 guests, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, rushed to the far end of a polo field in South Florida on Friday.
“The Duke of Sussex could score a goal!” shouted an announcer over a loudspeaker at the Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, attended by spectators including Serena Williams and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Netflix film crews. The streamer is producing a polo-related project starring Harry and Meghan that was announced Thursday and will be filmed in Wellington, an affluent area near Palm Beach known for its equestrian scene.
The announcer and many in the audience groaned loudly when Harry missed his shot. He wore a blue and white shirt with the number 2 on it, along with the logo for Sentebale, a charity he founded to support children in the African countries Lesotho and Botswana, and a logo for Royal Salute, a whiskey brand and sponsor of the invitation-only charity match involving three teams.
The event took place at the Grand Champions Polo Club and the organizers included Melissa and Marc Ganzi, members of the Wellington polo community, as well as founders of the World Polo League and owners of the Grand Champions club. The Ganzis also own the Santa Rita Polo Farm in Wellington and the Aspen Valley Polo Club in Colorado. Ganzi is the CEO of Digital Bridge, an investment firm formerly known as Colony Capital, where he succeeded Thomas J. Barrack Jr., chairman of former President Donald J. Trump's inaugural committee.
Harry, 39, one of the highest profile polo players in the world, competed in the match with other stars of the sport such as the famous Argentine player Adolfo Cambiaso; the English player Malcolm Borwick, ambassador of the Royal Salute; and Nacho Figueras, the Argentine athlete who regularly faced Harry on the polo fields and whose career made him a face not only of the sport but also of Ralph Lauren, a brand that has intertwined his identity with polo.
Harry's team ultimately won the match and Meghan was presented with a trophy, which drew cheers from the crowd as she approached the podium on a stage to present the award wearing a low-cut cream Heidi Merrick dress and statement nude Aquazzura pumps.
Meghan, after being helped up the stairs to the stage, passed the other players on the winning team and headed towards her husband. “Myself?” Harry said jokingly to his wife, pointing to her chest and feigning surprise before the pair leaned in for a rather cinematic kiss – the Netflix cameras were there, after all.
The Sussexes' polo project is one of two newly announced initiatives involving them and the streamer; the other project, according to Deadline, will focus on Meghan and activities such as cooking, gardening and entertaining. Last month Meghan, 42, announced on social media the start of another new venture, a lifestyle brand called American Riviera Orchard, about a week before Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed she had been diagnosed with a cancer.
The Royal Salute Polo Challenge took place at the end of the professional polo season in the United States, which largely takes place in Wellington from January to April. The US Open Polo Championship finals will take place next weekend at the National Polo Center in Wellington. The professional tour then moves to Europe for the summer and South America in the fall.
As Mr. Borwick, the English player, said: “The polo season follows the sun.” In an interview before Friday's match, he said “the sport has changed so much” as investments in polo have transformed it into “a fully professional sport.”
“It used to be perfectly acceptable to leave the bar at 3 in the morning and go play professional polo the next day,” Borwick said, describing the evolution of the sport as “an incredible journey.”
“For us, as professionals embarking on this journey, it has been a challenge to continually adapt and change,” Borwick said.