William Rees-Mogg Where am I Prince Harry will undertake his first official overseas engagements when he travels to New York this month for a
charity polo match. He will squeeze several official visits into his packed 36-hour schedule, as well as find time to attend a reception in Manhattan, host a private dinner and meet some of the wealthiest members of New York society — although he will not, according to his advisers, have any time for the sort of late-night socialising for which he has a reputation. After flying in on the morning of Friday, May 29, and leaving on the Saturday evening “red-eye”, he will, his private secretary says, be “cream-crackered”. Although the trip includes official duties, it is being paid for by the Queen out of her private funds rather than by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The visit, the Prince’s first to the United States since he was a child, is the result of the Manhattan Polo Classic — an event in its second year — deciding to dedicate this year’s match to the US arm of , the charity that he co-founded to help orphans in Lesotho.
The agreement has an obvious attraction for both sides: the polo people get a prince to help to raise their profile the Prince gets some much-needed funds for his charity. Last month it was revealed that donations to Sentebale fell by 84 per cent in 2007 to £250,000.