Prince William polo match raises £1m for charity
The Prince of Wales has taken part in a polo match to help raise more than £1 million for his charities.
The royal, a keen player of the sport since childhood, competed in the Out-Sourcing Inc Royal Charity Polo Cup 2024 at the Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park on Friday.
It was the 13th time he had taken part in the event.
A Kensington Palace spokesman said: “Each year the polo match raises a million pounds for deserving charities and that is the driver of why the Prince of Wales takes part.
“To date, the Prince playing polo has raised an incredible £13 million for charities that the Prince and Princess support.”
The Prince’s four-strong US Polo Association team were the eventual winners in the round-robin competition.
The Princess, who can often be found cheering on her husband from the sidelines, was not among the spectators at Friday’s event.
She had been scheduled to present the trophies, but was replaced by a senior executive from Out-Sourcing Inc.
Among the spectators were Peter Phillips, the Prince’s cousin, with his girlfriend Harriet Sperling. Also in attendance were Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, the television presenter and interior designer, and his wife Jackie.
The Princess, who is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer, made a brief return to the public spotlight last month at Trooping the Colour.
However, she has said that, although she was making good progress, she was “not out of the woods yet” and had “good days and bad days”.
Last year, the Princess presented the Prince with a trophy and greeted him with a kiss.
The 11 organisations that will benefit from this year’s fundraising effort concern issues that are close to the Prince and Princess’s hearts, from emergency services and mental health charities to those which focus on early years support and conservation.
Among those not directly linked to the couple are the MND Association, which is closely associated with the late rugby player Rob Burrow and whose patron is the Princess Royal.
The Prince presented Mr Burrow and his close friend, and Leeds Rhinos teammate, Kevin Sinfield with their MBEs in January, just five months before Mr Burrow died in June.
The Royal Marsden cancer hospital, a longstanding patronage of the Prince, has also been nominated as a benefactor.
The Wales Air Ambulance said that generous donations, such as the one it received last year from the charity polo match, had “saved the lives of people across the length and breadth of Wales.”
Sue Barnes, its chief executive, said that, as its patron and a former air ambulance pilot, Prince William was “as much a part of the wider air ambulance family as our crew, staff and supporters.”
She added: “The passion that both he and the Princes of Wales bring to those charities that are close to their hearts is incredible.
“Sometimes it’s hard to find the right words to express the gratitude, not just of the patients but of their families, friends and work colleagues who are affected.” She added in Welsh: “Our heartfelt thanks to you.”