NEW YORK (AFP) &mdash Britain’s Prince Harry ended his first trip to New York on Saturday with victory at a charity polo match and
a dousing in champagne. The prince, 24, projected a newly serious image on his two-day visit to the Big Apple, kicking off his first official foreign trip by paying homage at Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11 attacks. But he was back to his glamour-loving ways Saturday at the star-studded game on Governor’s Island in the Hudson River, with Manhattan’s skyscrapers the dramatic backdrop. Riding a chestnut-colored pony called Serena he helped his team win 6-5 before an adoring crowd. On the other side of the pitch, hundreds of members of an enthusiastic public lay on the grass, roasting in the sun. All afternoon, the “mwah mwah” of air kisses mingled with the shutter snaps of paparazzi cameras and thud of galloping polo ponies. Argentine model and professional polo player Nacho Figueras, who captained the losing team, told AFP that Prince Harry was a “good player.”
“When we’re on the polo field we are all equal. That’s the way he’d like it,” said Figueras, whose appearance caused exclamations of admiration from several female journalists, including one gushing: “You’re so tall!”