Harry and Meghan's new BFFs: He's an impossibly handsome polo-playing model with limitless funds
0Harry and Meghan's new BFFs: He's an impossibly handsome polo-playing model with limitless funds
Harry and Meghan's new BFFs: He's an impossibly handsome polo-playing model with limitless funds and a huge estate. And his equally beautiful wife just got a pot of Meghan's jam. ALISON BOSHOFF reveals all
The 'bromance' between Prince Harry and Nacho Figueras — the wealthy, handsome and influential 'David Beckham of polo' — grows, it would seem, ever deep. Over one week alone, there have been three very public displays of affection.
In one, Harry's wife, Meghan, sent a jar of strawberry jam — the first product from her much-anticipated lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard — to Nacho's socialite wife, Delfina Blaquier.
Delfina, who is a model, photographer and polo player, posted a picture of her jar, marked 10/50, on Instagram with the words: 'Strawberry jam makes me happy. And I love your jam, @AmericanRivieraOrchard.'
And then there were the appearances of the two couples together at two celebrity polo matches in Florida — one of them a benefit for the Prince's charity Sentebale.
Meghan kissed Nacho, held hands with his daughter, Alba, and clasped Delfina — her 'polo wife' and 'sister' — in a full-on embrace alongside the polo field.
Harry, who is less demonstrative, walked pink-cheeked in step with Nacho, a handsome globe-trotting mentor who just might be Harry's one true friend.
Nacho, barefoot in jeans, exuded casual cool. Harry, less so.
It was the charity Sentebale, founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, which first brought Harry into Nacho's orbit way back in 2007, when Nacho — the sport's most famous figure at the time — agreed to take part in a fundraising match for the charity.
Harry, then just 24 and in the process of training to be a helicopter pilot, was in New York on his first official trip abroad.
He made some rather juvenile overtures of friendship towards Nacho, spitting champagne in his face during the cup presentation ceremony.
Nacho didn't look all that delighted by the prank, but they stayed in touch and kept playing polo together.
'Well, I don't call him every morning to ask him what he had for breakfast, but yes, we have a relationship,' Nacho said two years later.
By 2017, they were on close enough terms for Harry to confide in Nacho that he had met someone special — American TV actress Meghan Markle.
'We've just met, but I think this might be the one,' Harry told him.
Nacho said: 'You could tell right away that those were the eyes of someone who had fallen in love.'
He later told People magazine that he knew 'first hand' that Harry was longing to be a father, and added that the prince had found 'an amazing partner' in Meghan.
Nacho and wife Delfina attended the royal wedding at Windsor in 2018, and made the cut for the evening reception (unlike the Beckhams).
The following year, Nacho referred to the couple as 'heroes' on Ellen DeGeneres's chat show.
After Harry and Meghan moved to California, they saw more of each other. Harry started to play for Nacho's Los Padres polo team in Santa Barbara. Nacho remarked it meant that they 'really bonded more than we've ever bonded before'.
He said: 'Being able to play with him for two months in a real competition with the Los Padres team was a dream come true for me, and maybe for him, too ...
'We got to spend a lot of time together on the field; off the field with our families. It's an honour to be his teammate.'
By now, of course, Harry's relationship with his older brother, Prince William, was in ashes.
In August 2023 Harry and Nacho travelled together (by private jet) to play a charity polo match in Singapore, goofing around, trying on sunglasses and having fun.
Montecito journalist Richard Mineards says: 'I think Harry considers Nacho more like a brother than a good friend, particularly given the schism with the Prince of Wales.'
Mineards adds that Nacho's relentless positivity about Harry is an asset.
'Nacho often speaks publicly about their relationship and how wonderful Harry and his intentions are.'
You could, in fact, make the case that Harry and Meghan's life in California owes much to Nacho's patronage.
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