Prince Harry and longtime friend, Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras, paused their widely reported bromance on Friday as they went head to head in a polo game in Singapore supporting the prince's Sentebale charity.
The prince and his Argentinian-born polo playing pal have been increasingly linked since the royal stepped down from his working role within the monarchy in 2020, and moved to a home in the Montecito area of California with Meghan Markle and their young family.
Harry and Meghan's home is located nearby the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club where the royal and Figueras played the 2022 polo season under their own team, named "Los Padres," in honor of the California forest and team's members being made up of fathers to young children.
Figueras met the prince prior to his marriage to Meghan—which took place at St George's Chapel, Windsor, in 2018—and has been linked to the royal's Sentebale charity for a number of years.
The Sentebale charity polo game has been held for over a decade, taking place in different locations across the globe, and in that time has raised nearly $14 million for the organization, according to the charity's press release.
On August 9, Figueras accompanied Harry on a visit to Japan where the pair attended the International Sports Promotion Society (ISPS) Sports Values Summit—Special Edition in Tokyo.
The ISPS is a key sponsor of the Sentebale polo game, and during the summit, both Harry and Figueras spoke of the power of sport in impacting global change and how the Sentebale game was an example of this.
After their brief stop in Tokyo, where Figueras posted an Instagram photo of himself with Harry trying on sunglasses in a store captioned "Shopping for our wives," the pair made the journey to Singapore for the game at the Singapore Polo Club.
The Singapore game marked a rare break with tradition for the friends who are normally teammates. Instead, for this year's event, Harry played on the Royal Salute Sentebale team while Figueras captained the Singapore Polo Club team.
The friendship was safe though when the overall game score came to a 7-7 goal tie, with the prince and Figueras sharing the trophy moment.
A Sentebale press release issued after the game read: "This year's event saw Figueras, in opposition to the Duke's [Harry's] team, one of the few occasions in the tournaments history when the pair have played on opposing sides. Both rose to the challenge, each scoring impressive goals but ultimately the teams were evenly matched with the final score levelling at 7-7 with honours shared."
In a statement, Figueras said: "Although Prince Harry and I played on opposing teams this year, we are always united in our support for Sentebale and the life-changing work they do for young people in southern Africa. It's a highlight every year to come together for this incredible charity, and I'm grateful to everyone who contributes to their work."
Figueras has often commented on his friendship with the prince, and he was one of the few who were asked to take part in the royal's Netflix docuseries, which debuted in December 2022.
In the show, Figueras described how Harry had confided in him and his wife, Delfina Blaquier, that he had met and started dating Meghan in 2016.
"He said: 'Guys I met a girl. We just met but I think this may be the one,'" the polo player told Netflix viewers. "You could tell right away that those were they eyes of someone that had fallen in love."
Figueras and Blaquier were guests at the royal wedding and Meghan has been photographed in the years since their U.S. move watching polo with Blaquier, who in a 2022 Instagram post described the duchess as her "sister."
Figueras and Blaquier's prominence in Harry and Meghan's lives was cemented when the prince included them in the acknowledgements section of his memoir, Spare, alongside celebrity friends, Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
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