Prince Harry’s Netflix show about polo may have been mauled by the critics, but you might have expected his old chums from the sport to have a much more positive verdict.
But Tommy Severn, the captain of Polo England who has played with both Princes William and Harry, has joined the chorus of derision, I can reveal, criticising the show as ‘very weird’.
He also said the California-based Duke ‘can’t come back to England now’ as any return would make him ‘look like an idiot’.
Severn was baffled by how little Harry appears in the series, which has failed to make the top ten of Neflix shows anywhere in the world, saying: ‘It seemed to be more about Timmy and Tim Dutta than the Prince, who doesn’t appear until near the end.’
Timmy, 23, plays for a US team bankrolled by his father.
Harry and William were once so close to Severn’s family that they kept their ponies at the polo stud owned by his grandfather, Christopher Hanbury in Gloucestershire. Harry also spent his gap year at the family’s ranch in Argentina.
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When asked why the Duke failed to mention his formative years in polo with Severn and his family, he replied: ‘I’ve no idea!’
He added: ‘I think Harry’s cut ties so if he came back now, he’d look like an idiot.’
But he said he couldn’t completely rule out Harry returning to the UK and Royal life later: ‘William might help him because they were close – that’s the brothers bond.’
Harry’s show, called Polo, aims to reveal sport’s ‘fierce rivalries’. But the Prince, 40, appears only a handful of times over the five episodes.
Jane Fryer’s review for the Daily Mail called the show ‘plodding’ and ‘boring’, while The Guardian described it as an ‘unintentionally hilarious profile of the world’s stupidest sport’.
2023: Prince Harry saddles up for a charity polo match in Singapore
