Here are some photos of Princes Harry and William playing a charity polo game over the weekend. The money raised from the game went to The Royal Marsden cancer hospital and Harry’s Sentebale charity, amongst others. The brothers played on the same team and that team lost on Day 1, unfortunately. But they won on Day 2. Still, it was a decent event which raised a lot of money and there were some celebrities in attendance. But no Duchess Kate. It’s starting to get a little bit weird with how infrequently William allows Kate to attend “his” events.
As for Harry, this was one of his last public appearances before he heads to South America which will take him to Brazil (for some World Cup games) and Chile. How did Harry manage to get the fun World Cup gig? You know William would have loved to do that. There are also more UK tabloid stories about Harry “pining away” for Cressida, and how he’s trying to win her back but Cressy still is gun-shy about royal life. I don’t know. I don’t believe Harry is pining away for her. I think he’s over it. But we’ll see.
Meanwhile, William and Harry’s close friend Guy Pelly was in court last week for a drunk-driving arrest that happened a year ago. The details are pretty interesting – Guy was allegedly driving drunk in the wee hours of the morning. When he was pulled over, he refused to take the Breathalyzer and he told the cops that he only had two beers. He was arrested and the police tested his alcohol content at the station and he was still very much over the limit. Now, in court, Pelly claims that he only had two glasses of wine and that the Breathalyzer malfunctioned because of radio waves from his iPhone. Er…yeah. Guy Pelly has always been known as a heavy partier, hasn’t he?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Spoiled entitle brat.
The radio waves from my iPhone gave me a terrible hangover on New Year’s Day.
That really is such a terrible excuse. Sadly, I bet he’ll walk away with barely a slap on the wrist. After writing that.. Barely a slap sounds too generous.
Isn’t this William’s friend that is the devil on William’s shoulder? It was always his parties that were rumored to have lots of “entertainment” during the hunting trips?
•Florc•
Agreed Florc and I think so.
Guy is much closer to Harry than William. He is the one Charles tried, unsuccessfully, to prevent his son from hanging with. After William’s gap year Guy was close to all the younger royals. Guy introduced Harry to drugs, supposedly.
To marijuana? Pretty harmless compared to the huge effect that alcohol has on a person. But then, I don’t know how people perceive marijuana in GB. Certainly he wasn’t into anything harder..?
@Dame – That’s interesting to read. Now, I’m rather confused about Guy because that story is different than what I read. Supposedly, Guy was endeared to the BRF when Harry was caught smoking marijuana at HighGrove and Guy took the wrap for it. It was basically stated that he introduced him to the drug, but all along that was never the case. I think this came out MUCH later, actually only a couple of years ago, I believe. Also, Guy is extremely protective and loyal to the princes, never speaking on them in any interviews or exploiting his connections. Well, *directly* exploiting them. I’m sure everyone knows about his association with the princes which is part of the reasons his clubs old and new were/are always the places to see and be seen.
I haven’t read a book about the princes that has ever agreed to how much and what Guy’s exact influence was on *either* prince. Most think he was a fairly bad influence though and is part of the reason William distanced himself from Guy.
Didn’t Charles want him gone at one point?
Guy was thrown under the bus for Harry’s sake. It is also highly probable that Harry was doing more than marijuana. At any rate Charles never did much beyond lip service to seperate Harry and Guy. And Charles heavily enabled Harry’s underage drinking.
@LS – I don’t ever recall William distancing himself, but perhaps I wasn’t paying attention. Honestly, I could see Wills doing this publicly, but not privately. All 3 of them seem far too close. Also, wasn’t Guy Pelly one of the first people Will hung out with after the wedding? I recall them having a “guys night” about a month or so afterwards.
HH
All three men are close although Guy is closer to Harry – he met him first and there is only a small age difference.
Guy’s role in their lives is as a purveyor of recreational pursuits and not all of them admirable. He also provides privacy and discretion when the young royals want to play. His reward is relative peace and quiet and huge financial windfalls from his profitable clubs and establishments.
I do believe if Guy weren’t from a wealthy and aristocratic family the grey men would have ‘offed with his head’ years ago. As it is, they only flap when Guy is sloppy about guarding the princes’ privacy.
In an interview Guy admitted that that was the only issue around which he and Kate ever locked horns. She was so resigned to William doing whatever he damn well pleased that she actually chastised his friends when they didn’t properly shield his bad behavior. Sad really.
Didn’t it turn out that Guy isn’t from an aristocratic family? His father is a garage owner or some such. The press had long gotten Jake Warren’s aristocratic mother confused with Guy’s.
Pelly’s mother is some kind of aristocrat and his father was from a family that owned a garage.
Apparently his father is much grander than his mother, though. Heh, that always happens.
The fact that I know these things makes me want to hurl, actually.
http://peeragenews.blogspot.ca/2013/12/pellywilson-betrothal.html
So some aristo connections but not so very grand – although I’m sure he thinks he is.
“allows her to attend events”???? Maybe polo bores her and she’d rather be shopping or at the gym..
I think it is a mixture. Kate isn´t really the hard working type of woman. So when she doesn´t have to make a public appearance, she just stays home/ at her parents/ shopping/ decorating etc. But I also think that William doesn´t want to be overshadowed like Charles was by Diana. Most of the magazines/ blogs are only interested in Kate, her make up, her dress, her hair.
She could never outshine him in my opinion – I haven’t seen any spirit – just follow the leader, ho hum.
To me, William appears more relaxed around his brother than at any other time.
Or the fact that the polo field doesn’t really lend itself to her wearing short, floaty dresses, so no chance to give everyone a glance at the dimples on her cheeks… 😉
She’s allergic to horses. Her attendance at these polo events dropped off dramatically once they got engaged/married, so I’m guessing it’s something she never enjoyed.
@AM – The allergy would lead me to believe she didn’t enjoy the events, but I’m still not sold on it being her choice to no longer attend. It’s just so weird how many things William does without Kate. I’m not saying couples should be joined at the hip, but’s it’s just odd.
•AM•
Dearie, I think you forgot some punctuation this morning. It IS Monday morning after all.
It’s ‘allergic to horses’. 😉
And I agree — I don’t think she particularly cares for polo. Diana didn’t either. Not sure about Sarah. But even the best marriages have spouses with different interests. No big deal.
Ha!
Diana did enthusiastically attend many, many polo matches, often with the boys, until the marriage had irretrievably broken down, but then again, she hadn’t put in 10 years on the front end. Sarah used to go with her before she married Andrew, not sure about later on…don’t think Andrew played polo.
Diana faked her interest as she hated polo. That was until The Cad caught her eye but she never enjoyed going for the game itself. She went to support Charles at first and then to support James.
“To support him”…what a novel idea!
That’s exactly what I was thinking. If I were Kate I wouldn’t be showing up at these events either. I would get bored. On the other hand it could be because William didn’t want her to come like people are saying but I believe the “Kate would be bored” theory more.
I find Harry doing the World Cup gig odd, too – William is the president of the FA (UK soccer ruling body). Can’t work that one out at all.
Pelly must have been well over the limit if he’s reaching like that to get out of it. The way it works in the UK is an automatic driving ban plus fine for a DUI. But the length of the ban (and the size of the fine, not that a fine would matter to Pelly) depends on how much over the limit you are. The magistrates literally read it off a graph and extenuating circumstances are never (or incredibly rarely) taken into account.
Perhaps William will manage a surprise trip if England makes it out of the early round. My memory is fuzzy, but I think that’s what he did for South Africa and Germany.
•Sixer•
Japan is, I think, even stricter. You get a huge fine (as compared to the US) and automatically lose driving privileges. I think the 2nd DUI you lose your license for life, plus another whopping fine. Although, Pelly is rich enough that that kind of fine wouldn’t dent his pocket-book.
And couldn’t he come up with a better excuse?
*eye roll*
So how big are your fines?
When I lived in Germany, I believed that you went *directly* to jail for a year. NEVER did I drink and drive: I didn’t want to be separated from my children! In the state that I live in, they just make your life very difficult for a year – no license, fines, classes, drug testing. People who have been caught probably never do it again – but that doesn’t change all the driving they do before they are caught.
•wolfpup•
I’m pretty sure Nebraska is a slap on your wrist kinda state. However, I could be wrong because, unlike Minnesota and Wisconsin, minors cannot have have a sip or drink of alcohol even if a parent is present.
*goes off to look at Nebraska’s DUI laws*
Nebraska isn’t as steep as the rest of the world (RoW) but it isn’t a slap on the wrist either. Minnesota has much stiffer penalties whereas Iowa is a true ‘slap on the wrist’ kind of penalty.
http://www.duiconsequences.org/index.html
Well… As it has seemed recently, William would probably like to attend, *but without Kate.* Maybe the Palace was worried about his image: having fun halfway around the world while his wife is back home. You just know he’d be out partying. I already thought Kate’s absence was weird from the Pelly wedding.
Oh man you’re right, she didn’t go! What was the excuse for that one? Obviously she wasn’t going to pull a Cressy and demand to go to the bachelor party, but there was still a wedding.
@LS
Hang on – I proofread a paper on this about a year ago. Which is why I know – I haven’t been DUId! (I hate cars and only drive when there’s no other choice anyway) – lemme dig it out…
The minimum period of a driving ban is a year but it increases to three years, depending on how over the limit you are. It is genuinely a graph and the magistrates just find your place on it and issue the ban. Fines are a maximum of £5,000 but are generally dependent on income. Prison sentences are possible but in practice only for repeat offenders. But now I’ve looked, I see that you get extra naughty points (a further fine and longer ban) if you refuse to take the breathalyser on scene. That must be why Pelly is arguing faulty machinery.
•Sixer•
Cars in the US are a necessity in virtually everyplace but very large metropolitans.
Hmmmm. The fines then are similar in the UK & Japan. Unlike here in the US, most states only give you a couple hundred dollar fine vs several thousand (fill in appropriate currency) fine.
Japan also has DUI that has grades — if you blow a .03 (most people that’s one hard drink or two beers) you’ve incurred a steep fine and a loss of driving privileges. Possibly even jail time. After .08 — they really increase penalties by a lot. I’m guess it’s similar to the UK all around.
The US military really clamped down HARD on drinking and driving in Japan because it’s such an issue and they have almost no tolerance for it whatsoever. I had 8 breathalyser tests in the 3 years we lived there! 8!!! Never once had one here.
One time, after a 4th of July party, I was really tired and not nuts about driving. My then husband had quite drinking a few hours before and felt ‘fine’ (he totally looked it too). Luckily I stuck to my guns and insisted it’s ‘better to be safe than sorry’. We arrived at the main gate to our housing and they were breathalsying everyone entering base. I hadn’t drank anything as I was the DD that night so I came up an expected .00; but for gits and shiggles I asked the sailor to breathalyse my hubby and she complied. Even after he stopped drinking several hours earlier, and showed NO discernible effects of drinking, he still blew a whopping .086! That taught us both a valuable lesson I’ll never forget. Wow.
Pelly is being an idiot. His story sounds ridiculously stupid. He should prostrate himself and ask the court to go lenient instead. Going this route makes him the butt of jokes instead…..
Plus he gets put in the news…
@LS
Our drink driving limit is .08 though, so not as strict as Japan. We do keep having rumblings about going down to .06 but nothing’s happened yet.
•Sixer•
Most states have an .08 limit with a few still holding onto .10. I know there was talk about some states dropping it to either .05 or .06 but cannot recall if any state actually did that. Japan’s .03 was low but shows how serious they consider drinking and driving.
Although, as a warning to people that travel to Japan, don’t take the early AM trains as you’ll get drunk just through osmosis alone! Like wowsers Batman kind of alcohol smell coming from certain Japanese business men. Lol
Daily Fail says she was at her cousin’s wedding.
Watch for Wills to start to ban Harry from “his” events as well. Can’t imagine anyone would look at William when there was Prince Ginger to ogle.
“It’s starting to get a little bit weird with how infrequently William allows Kate to attend “his” events.” Good Lord. What a leap!
For all any of us know Kate doesn’t want to attend William’s sporting/public events. Sure Kate likes to play sports but who knows if she has any interest in just being a spectator on the sidelines for hours on end? (I would go every once in a while for my guy for the sake of supporting his interests but I personally honestly can’t think of anything more mind numbing than watching sports. Just not my thing.)
Besides, it isn’t exactly common practice for royal wives or husbands to be tag-alongs to their spouses at public events in which they themselves aren’t scheduled to appear. I’m hardly a William sympathizer but I can’t stand this push to try and make him out to be some sort or insanely insecure, controlling, mildly abusive husband as an explanation for Kate’s own (lifelong btw) lack of work ethic. It’s totally based on personal opinion and really isn’t right or fair.
Royal spouses regularly attend their spouses sporting events. Diana was always at Charles’ polo matches. Zara & Mike Tindall are regulars at each other’s events.
I see her non attendance as a classic bait and switch. just like Diana and country pursuits or Jen Aniston and her NYC apartments. Pretend to enjoy a past time until your relationship is secure, then drop out.
In their dating days, Kate barely missed a match. Kate once told someone at a polo match that she had to watch the games so she could discuss the minutea of it later.
After the wedding, her attendance became patchy and now appears to have tailed off completely.
That is EXACTLY how I perceive the situation, LAK. I think at heart William’s really a country boy and Kate’s really a city girl. If it ever comes to a head, William will say that she “tricked” him, never pausing to consider the 10 years he had to figure it out or his own mother’s situation.
I’m glad to see Harry is no longer wearing spurs to play polo. That was just cruel.
Spurs are not cruel. They’re a relatively common piece of equipment for riding horses (depending on the type of horse, of course). They’re not used to draw blood or to jab at the horse, they just provide a tiny extra poke when you can’t fully engage that leg (which I imagine happens sometimes in polo leaning over to get the ball) or when the horse doesn’t fully respect leg commands because he’s a bit lazy. People tend to forget that horses are BIG animals — a tap with a whip or a squeeze with a spur really isn’t doing any damage.
Edited to add: I realized you were talking about the pictures where there was some blood on Harry’s horse. He was cleared in that — he was wearing standard spurs, and the vets that examined the horse said there was no evidence the injury was caused by jabbing the horse with his spur and that since it was only on one side it was more likely from a collision during the game.
Before they were engaged she was at a polo game and a reporter standing nearby remarked on her serious concentration while watching the game, and she said she had to study the game carefully as she would be expected to recall every play later on. She was probably very happy to stay at home to make sure no one painted the walls purple in her absence.