‘Living legend’ Harry pokes fun at King’s f lying... but doesn’t mention his condition
PRINCE Harry may not have made a public comment about his father’s impending operation – but he couldn’t resist a joke at his expense as he accepted a Living Legends of Aviation award in Hollywood.
Footage shot by a guest at the Beverly Hilton hotel on Friday shows the prince at his table being asked by host John Travolta about his first flight.
Harry, 39, starts by emphasising his former life as a working royal in what seems to be a deliberatelystaged piece of comedy, saying: ‘Unfortunately I can’t. It’s classified.’ The audience laughs and claps as the prince sits down.
He takes the microphone and says: ‘Nah, nah, nah. Sorry that was rude. I think I was seven or eight years old. Westlands helicopter. I jumped into it, very excited. And then my father jumped in behind me and took the controls.’
He then pauses for effect, adding: ‘I was terrified.’ At this supposedly
off-hand comment about King Charles, who will this week undergo surgery for an enlarged prostate, the audience howls and claps. Other footage shows Harry having a medal put around his neck on stage. He has a number of ‘real’ medals he is allowed to wear
on official occasions, such as his Afghanistan Service Medal and his Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals given to him by the late Queen.
He also wears the KCVO Star around his neck, representing the fact he remains a Knight Commander
of the Royal Victorian Order, which recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch. Smoothing down his new medal, Harry, sporting black tie, plays to the audience, saying: ‘This is nice. Thanks very much Captain John. Don’t go running away.’
He adds: ‘I was one-years- old when you danced with my mum, as you have told everybody here. Continuously dined out on that, probably every single night. Whatever. But look at us now, it’s great. So if we are not going to dance together, we’ll fly together.
‘That’s it, thank you,’ he remarks, waving his hand towards Travolta. Harry went into a heartfelt speech thanking all the unsung heroes of the aviation industry, such as engineers and technicians.
The Mail on Sunday said the prince mingled with some of ‘Hollywood’s most meaningless personalities and was being garlanded by sycophants with yet another meaningless bauble at a £1,100-ahead event’.
Harry’s decision to accept the award, after being recommended by Travolta, has attracted derision, with the former head of the Royal Navy, Lord Westminster, saying: ‘He is not a living legend of aviation. It makes the whole thing seem a bit of a nonsense.’
Among those Harry rubbed shoulders with was ‘Prince’ MarioMax Schaumburg-Lippe, a German-born personality whose right to use the ancient title is disputed. He maintains he is entitled to do so after being adopted by a distant relative of the family when he was a young man.
The Sunday Mirror reported yesterday that Harry, who has made no public statement on his father’s health woes, had been in touch with him privately. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.