As Private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton released details of Prince Harry's "lightning" visit to New York City it was revealed that Queen Elizabeth has made the unprecedented move of paying the estimated £25,000 cost of the trip herself. Speculation suggests that this may be in response to tax payers feeling the pinch of the current economic troubles doubled with growing public anger as details emerge of funding abuse by MPs continue to cause fallout in Parliament.
But Mr Lowther-Pinkerton said of the Queen's decision, 'As it's not a full-fat royal trip, the Queen has very graciously offered to foot the bill, which is very kind of her.'
Flying by a regularly scheduled passenger airline and traveling with just 4 aides Prince Harry's visit to New York will hardly break the bank. With the costs of the longer and more formal official visits taken by senior royals reaching into the hundreds of thousands of pounds Harry's quick visit was unlikely to cause much fuss over costs anyway. Nevertheless the Queen's prudent move will no doubt be approved of although I worry it may set a potentially troublesome precedent with members of the royal family being expected to pay their own way while carrying out public engagements.
The low-key nature of the two-day visit is likely to be approved of by Harry as well, with his private secretary saying, 'It's just Harry's way.'
Joining Prince Harry will be Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, co-founder of Sentebale, and an unnamed British soldier (I'm betting on Ben McBean, the injured young Marine who's bravery Harry spoke of on his return from Afghanistan).
Prince Harry's St James office released details of his itinerary, which reflects not only the royal side of things, but the Prince's own interests in charity and the military. The Prince will arrive in NY on Friday morning May 29th. He will visit the site of the World Trade Center where he will lay a wreath before meeting families of some of those killed in the terrorist attacks. Afterward he will formally name the British Garden at Hanover Square, which commemorates the British victims of the 9/11 attacks.
He will then go to the VA Medical Center to meet injured US soldiers. Prince Harry, who along with his brother last year raised money for injured service men and women with the charity City Salute, is keen to learn about the VA's treatment of PTSD and to see it's prosthetics facilities. Lowther-Pinkerton says, 'Having served in Afghanistan last year and having got to know US servicemen and women he wanted to learn more about American veterans organisations and see what lessons can be learned on either side.'
Later that evening he will attend a dinner at the British Consul. Said Sir Alan Collins, the British Consul-General in New York, 'Prince Harry's visit will help reinforce the strong commercial, cultural and historical links that New York enjoys with the United Kingdom. Prince Harry is well known and respected in the United States of America for having deployed alongside US forces in Afghanistan, which adds additional poignancy to his visits to the World Trade Center site, the British Memorial Garden and the Veterans Hospital.'
On Saturday May 30th Prince Harry will join Prince Seeiso on a visit to the Harlem Children's Zone before going to Governors Island where the Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic is hosting a polo match to raise money for Sentebale. Harry will be playing in the match lead by Captain Nick Roldan.
There is to be an after party for the players and ticket holders that night the Prince will not be at the event as he will be leaving that day to return in time to continue his helicopter training Monday morning. So although Americans are well aware of his party-boy image he's unlikely to live up to it in New York. Says Lowther-Pinkerton, 'It's 36 hours on the hoof . . . a lightening visit. I think he'll be cream-crackered to be honest with you and will want a good night's kip.'