Prince Charles Played Polo Just Hours After Baby Harry Came Home

Prince Harry leaves St Mary's Hospital, London, after birth previous day, 16th September 1984

(Image credit: Photo by Mirrorpix / Getty)

published 10 August 2022

Prince Harry was born on Sept. 15, 1984 at St. Mary's Hospital in London. The very next day, his parents Charles and Diana posed with him all bundled up outside the hospital doors—as is tradition—then were rushed home in a car. But it doesn't sound like they spent much time nesting after that.

A piece of news commentary from that day is featured in upcoming HBO documentary The Princess, and subtly (but really not that subtly) issues a judgment on Prince Charles' choice of activity post-welcoming a new baby.

"At the entrance to Kensington Palace, the prince and princess and their baby arrive from the hospital at speed, swept in without stopping," a voiceover says over footage of the Waleses' car.

"Then, less than an hour later, Prince Charles left to play polo—something most new fathers would hardly dare to suggest." Savage, but also fair?

The next piece of commentary featured after that in the documentary comes from a separate source, who comments on Charles' attitude to marriage, superimposed on footage of him playing polo and of Camilla Parker Bowles watching in the stands. I don't *think* the match shown at that point in the film is the one Charles played the day after Harry's birth.

"He has always carried on ever since he got married as if he were a bachelor," the second commentator says then. "He's made absolutely—and he never did from the word 'go'—almost any concession to being a married man with the responsibilities of a wife and now two children."

Given what we know about that particular marriage now, this tidbit of information isn't, like, the best, is it? I'll leave it at that.

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Bustle and Shape. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.