Prince Harry, Palm Beach County and polo, oh my! The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made their way from the West Coast to Wellington, Florida for the Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Challenge. Just under 300 guests attended the event—and I was there!
After trying on multiple dresses and finally landing on a floral Babour one, I made my way from Miami to the Grand Champions Polo Club, where the cameras were rolling for Archewell Productions’ newly announced non-fiction series, which promises to give unprecedented access to the world of professional polo. More on that later though!
It was a gorgeous, albeit hot, day to be outdoors. Delfina Blaquier, Nacho Figueras’ wife, sweetly made her way over to the press area to make sure we all had water because it was a scorcher.
Prior to Meghan and Harry’s arrival, I had time to speak with Nacho about what it meant to be there to support Sentebale. “It's always an amazing thing to get together to do two things that I love very much," he said. "One is playing polo, playing polo with good friends, and then also to be able to do that supporting an amazing cause, like Sentebale."
Nacho revealed that he and Harry practice together every once in a while and speak often. "We stay in touch a lot, which is amazing to be able to, you know, have a friendship that feels like although sometimes we're not together-together, we are always together," he shared. "At least in my case, [I] feel and think about him a lot. So, it's always a good thing to be able to share that with someone."
But who is the more competitive one? "I think it goes both ways," the polo star admitted.
Nacho confirmed that he is involved in the Sussexes' forthcoming polo series, which was filming at the event. "We've been working on this for a long time," he said. "It was always Harry's dream and passion to share the world, what it takes to be a really competitive polo player and show polo at the highest level."
Nacho added, "I cannot think of many people that can be better than him to be the kickoff of this storytelling."
And in case you’re wondering, Nacho can’t wait to see Archewell Productions' other Netflix series that will see Meghan celebrate the joys of cooking & gardening, entertaining and friendship. Speaking of friendship, Meghan’s bond with Delfina was on display at the event on Friday.
After posing for group photos with their husbands, the two walked off to the side holding hands, and when it was time to leave the step and repeat area, Nacho’s young daughter Alba and Meghan strolled together with their arms around each other. According to Nacho, Alba wanted to know why the Sussexes' daughter Lili wasn't there–same, Alba, same!
Relief from the sun came in the media tent, where I along with other members of the press watched the matches. As I told Dr. Sophie Chandauka MBE, Sentebale's board chair, I found myself learning a lot about polo on Friday! In fact, I was yesterday years old when I learned what a chukker is—a period of play like innings and quarters (the more you know!).
Prince Harry ended up scoring a goal during his match against his pal Nacho’s team, the Grand Champions. At the end of the day, the Royal Salute Sentebale Team—Harry’s— was victorious.
While the Duke had his buddy Nacho on the field, Meghan was joined by another one of her friends, Serena Williams.. The Duchess arrived for the presentation of the prizes in a golf cart with Delfina and Serena. Meghan emerged from behind the stage to present her husband with his team's trophy, and the two shared a tender kiss. See the sweet moment in the video below.
Although Harry and his team took home the trophy, the real winner of the day was Sentebale. The match on April 12 was a fundraising event for the charity founded by the Duke and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
Discussing the importance of the day, Dr. Chandauka told me, "Sentebale has been an organization that has been going for about 17 years. And this is an opportunity for us to tell the story of Sentebale in the context of the United States.
"As you know, Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso both come from the Commonwealth. And so most of our funders and community of support have come from the Commonwealth. And it's an opportunity for us to introduce ourselves to the U.S. marketplace and we're trying to figure out how we create relationships of substance in the U.S., so this is a really good way to do that as a start."
Dr. Chandauka shared that they're "hoping that by doing the work we're doing here, we'll be done with about a million hopefully in the bank for us during the course of this week."