Prince Harry Heads To Tri-State For Last Leg Of U.S. Tour
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Prince Harry of Britain arrives in the Tri-State area Monday with planned visits to New York City, the Jersey shore and Connecticut.
Harry will be arriving in New York City on Monday before heading to the Jersey shore on Tuesday, where he'll tour communities that were damaged by Superstorm Sandy, including Mantoloking and Seaside Heights.
"We certainly don't have the budget to pay for this kind of publicity, so we're excited about him coming here," said Seaside Heights Mayor William Akers.
Then, the prince has several events lined up in the New York City where he'll be meeting with young people in Harlem, promoting British tourism and raising money for the Royal Foundation.
Harry wraps up his U.S. Tour with a celebrity polo match on Wednesday at the Greenwich Polo Club, where he'll be playing in the Sentebale Royal Salute Polo Cup, a charity event.
The Sentebale charity was set up by Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in memory of their mothers, to aid needy children in that Africa country.
Over the weekend, Harry was in Colorado where he and Olympic swimming champion Missy Franklin joined an American naval officer who had been blinded in Afghanistan in launching the Warrior Games for wounded service members.
Lt. Bradley Snyder, Harry and Franklin lifted a torch Saturday to ignite an Olympic-style cauldron, after completing the last leg of a brief torch relay at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to formally start the games.
Britain sent a 35-member team, and the prince met with the athletes earlier in the day. He also sat on a gymnasium floor in a circle of 12 sitting volleyball players, batting the ball around amid whoops and laughter.
A captain in Britain's Army Air Corps, Harry has deployed to Afghanistan twice, and the British veterans said that makes him easy to talk to.
"He knows what it's like out there,'' said Army Capt. Dave Henson, a member of the volleyball team. "He's been on the ground and in the air.''
Henson, 28, lost both legs when an improvised bomb exploded in Afghanistan two years ago. He said Harry took a personal interest in the athletes' recovery and the quality of their health care.
The prince on Saturday afternoon pulled a Union Jack jersey over his uniform and joined the British team in a raucous exhibition game of sitting volleyball against U.S. players.
That delighted the audience of several hundred and prompted a string of teasing taunts from the arena announcer.
This trip seems to be aimed at shoring up Harry's image as a representative of the royal family. Harry caused a scandal on his last trip to the U.S. when he was photographed frolicking nude with an unidentified woman in a Las Vegas hotel suite in August.
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