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Meghan Markle was cheering her husband on from the sidelines of the polo field on Friday, as Prince Harry’s team battled in vain for a place in their league final.
Casually dressed in a denim shirt and shorts, with flat Grecian-style leather sandals, the Duchess of Sussex watched the match intently.
She appeared animated as she followed the game, lemonade in hand.
The prince, 37, joined the Los Padres polo team in May under the name Harry Wales, and has spent the last few weeks playing alongside his teammates.
The team, which competes in the Pacific Coast Circuit Inter-Circuit Cup, was founded by Nacho Figueras, 45, an Argentine polo professional and model, and longtime friend of the prince.
It came as friends revealed last night how Prince William is still at ‘rock bottom’ over the fractured bond with his brother.
Meghan Markle is seen on Friday in watching her husband play polo in Santa Barbara
Harry, 37, has been playing since May with the Los Padres polo team, only a few miles from his Montecito home
Meghan Markle watches husband Prince Harry at this latest polo game. The royal was playing for his Los Padres side at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club
The Duchess of Sussex was accompanied by a barefooted Delfina Blaquier, wife of Harry’s teammate Nacho Figueras
Harry is seen in action on Friday, as Los Padres tried to reach Sunday’s league final
Markle held her phone in one hand, and what looked like a lemonade in the other
Figueras, who has a handicap of five – out of a maximum of 10 – is the most experienced player in the team.
Harry’s handicap is one.
The pair are accompanied by two 16-year-olds, Keko Magrini, on a handicap of four, and Juan Guerrero, a two-goal player.
Meghan, 40, was cheering on the chukkas from the sidelines, besides Figueras’s wife Delfina Blaquier.
During intervals, she and Harry sat together under an awning.
She was also seen hugging Figueras.
Harry’s team was playing in the semi-final, against the Folded Hills team.
They were hoping to win through to Sunday’s final, but ultimately lost the match.
Meanwhile, friends of William lifted the lid on the brothers’ relationship, which has been put under strain in recent years.
‘He alternates between grieving for what he has lost and feeling really, really angry about what his brother has done,’ said one.
‘He truly loves Harry and feels he has lost the only person, aside from his wife, who understood this strange life of theirs.
‘But he believes there are things you just don’t do. And Harry has 100 per cent crossed that line.’
In a new series for the Daily Mail — ahead of Prince William’s landmark birthday on Tuesday — impeccable sources within his circle, some on the record, some on condition of anonymity, have revealed what makes him tick.
The result is illuminating, encouraging — and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny.
Yet his strained relationship with his brother does, inevitably, come heavily into play.
Asked whether they thought William would ever repair his bond with Harry, one friend says: ‘That’s a hard question to answer. The truth is they have got to find some common ground again.
‘But to do that both have to admit fault — and it’s pretty obvious that one of them is absolutely refusing to do that.
‘William is also very principled and believes Harry has crossed a line. He’s thrown accusation after accusation, knowing that silence is the family’s only option because it doesn’t want to get dragged into a public slanging match.
‘He sees how upset his father has been by it all, and it hurts.
‘William is absolutely allergic to drama, but Harry has ensured that the family laundry is being aired on a global scale.
‘I think they will find themselves in a better position in the future, but not now. And too much water has gone under the bridge for things to ever go back to the way they were.
‘Truthfully, William thinks Harry has been sucked into an alien world and there’s f*** all he can do about it. But he does want Harry to be happy, and if he stops throwing dust in their faces, then maybe he will find a way to forgive and forget.’
Another source is more conciliatory. ‘He’s actually always been very protective of Harry and has a very low tolerance of people being disrespectful about him, even now. I think he’ll keep the door open to him for ever,’ they insist.
‘In some ways, it’s not like any of this was a surprise. Harry always had concerns about life within the Royal Family.
‘And in hindsight the pressure that was put on him and William, living and working together as some sort of dynamic duo, placed a massive strain on their relationship. They had no room to breathe. But Meghan complicated it.
‘Harry had to pick a side — and there was only one side he was ever going to choose.
‘But I also find it impossible to believe there is anything these two brothers could say about each other that means they will never find a way to repair things.
‘They were too close and have been through too much together for that to happen.’
Harry is seen on his chestnut pony on Friday, with the green bandages for Los Padres’s colors
The 37-year-old has been playing polo since he was a boy, following in the footsteps of his father and older brother
Harry looked pensive as he mounted his pony for another chukka
The prince is a skilled horseman, and has been riding since he was a boy
Harry is seen wearing the white number one shirt, with Figueras to his left
The loss was the end of a frustrating week for Harry, who on Sunday, in the quarterfinals, fell from his pony in front of celebrity friends who came to the grounds to cheer him on.
Harry was unscathed in the incident at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club, as was his ride.
He didn’t appear too downcast by the result, because he was seen hanging out with friends on the sidelines including American idol runner up Katharine McPhee, 38, her composer husband David Foster, 72, and their young son Rennie.
Foster, who is just a year younger than Prince Charles, has been described by some as a ‘father figure’ to Harry.
Charles was also well known for falling off his horse in polo – breaking his arm on occasion.
In New Zealand Charles tumbled from his ride three times in six weeks.
In 2000 he was taken to hospital in Cirencester and forced to stay the night after a fall during a charity match in the Cotswolds when his sons, then 19 and 16, were on his team.
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