Prince Harry helped welcome the opening of Governors Island's 2009 season by playing in the second annual Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic. His team won, 6-5 over the Black Watch Team, and Prince Harry helped assist on the winning goal. The event, which had $25,000-50,000 VIP tickets, raised money for Sentebale, an AIDS charity, which Prince Harry co-founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho. Prince Harry said, "Prince Seeiso and I both lost our mothers when we were very young. We set up Sentebale in their memory, and because my mother loved this city, it makes this occasion all the more poignant for me."
Prince Harry did have one light moment: He spit champagne at Black Watch player Nacho Figueres (Figueres had sprayed the prince with champagne earlier). The young prince's first official visit to NYC brought out celebrities: Madonna was there with her sons Rocco and David, as were First Lady of NY Michelle Paige Paterson, Kate Hudson, Chloe Sevigny, and LL Cool J, who told the Daily News, "This is the first polo match I've been to in my life. I went online to check out the rules - and even what to wear!" the rapper laughed.
Prince Harry deemed the trip "fantastic" and, when asked if it did anything to rehab his image, he said, "I do not know what the public image is of me, there's always the image that has been given to me, but you know, it is the media that stamp an image on me that really isn't me."
