Harry’s bond with medic marvel beauty
PALLY: Harry and Elizabeth flirted and chatted at length after he presented her with her medal
US Army Sgt Elizabeth Marks stunned the Prince this week when she asked him to return her Invictus Games gold medal to the British hospital that saved her life
PRINCE HARRY was inspired to create the Invictus Games by his memories of ferrying horribly injured soldiers to hospital as an Apache helicopter pilot in Afghanistan. Sport, he realised, was one way to ease their trauma and give new meaning to their shattered lives.
And yesterday in Sergeant Elizabeth Marks he met the living embodiment of the success of his ideal.
The Prince and the American paralympic swimmer formed an immediate bond after he draped a gold medal around her neck and kissed her on both cheeks following her victory in the 100m freestyle.
At first Harry refused to accept her request to take back her medal and pass it on to the medical team at Papworth Hospital in Cambridgeshire, which had saved her life two years ago after By she developed lung condition.
But when the beautiful 25-year-old from Arizona cornered him in the competitors’ tent later, took off her tracksuit top to reveal a figure-hugging black swimsuit and flirtatiously asked him to try the top on he was powerless to resist.
It was a touching moment that culminated in the pair sitting down together to enjoy an animated conversation, Elizabeth’s tattooed right leg crossed over her left. Not that romance is on the cards as she is married.
The US Army medic took up swimming as part of her rehabilitation following three operations on her legs after sustaining a serious hip injury in Iraq in 2010.
She made the US team for the first Invictus Games held in the UK in 2014 but a near-fatal developed breathing problems on the flight over from Washington DC.
“I landed in London and became very ill very rapidly,” she recalled. “I was in hospital in London and went into respiratory distress syndrome. They shipped a team down from Papworth who put me on life support and that ultimately saved my life.”
When Elizabeth regained consciousness she was in the same hospital she had woken up in after being medically evacuated from Iraq four years earlier.
Speaking to reporters yesterday she said: “I can’t thank the UK enough for having that kind of medical support and taking such good care of me. So I gave Prince Harry one of my medals and hope it will find its way back to Papworth.
“Thank you, I will never be able to repay you but what you are doing is wonderful.”