Meghan Markle took a risk earlier this month by supporting Prince Harry at the 2024 ESPY Awards.
The Duke of Sussex, 39, received the Pat Tillman Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony on July 11 in recognition of his military experience and work with the Invictus Games, but many people, including Pat’s own mother, felt that Prince Harry did not deserve the honor.
Despite the backlash, Markle, 42, attended the event and supported her husband – a move that Newsweek’s chief royal correspondent Jack Royston believes was risky.
“She was in the audience clapping for Harry,” Royston wrote on July 17.“The Royal Report” podcast. “She could have stayed home and allowed Harry to go into the fire, into the hearth, alone.”
He added: “But she chose to be there for her husband, risking her own life and reputation so that he would not have to face an uncertain crowd alone.”
The former “Suits” actress sat next to Harry and cheered him on when he took the stage to accept his award at the Los Angeles ceremony, and she looked on proudly as he said the award “is not for me, it’s for the thousands of veterans and service members who have taken part in the Invictus Games.”
Royston noted that it would have “seemed very strange” if Meghan had not been in attendance, as her close friend Serena Williams was hosting the ESPY Awards.
“If one of your best friends was hosting and your husband was accepting prizes so you could stay home, it would have seemed very out of place,” the royal expert said.
He continued: “She didn’t have a neutral option because the public would have thought it was deliberate. She had to choose between supporting Harry or dumping him. But I think from a PR point of view and from the point of view of the health of their marriage, it’s a very good thing that she chose to stand by him.”
The Post has reached out to representatives for Meghan and Harry for comment.
The announcement that Harry would receive the Pat Tillman Lifetime Achievement Award offended many, including Mary Tillman, who slammed ESPN and claimed she was never consulted about the decision to give the award to such a “controversial and divisive figure.”
The former Arizona Cardinals safety was killed by friendly fire in 2004 after serving in Iraq and then Afghanistan, and was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his service.
ESPN defended its decision to honor Harry, a co-founder of the Invictus Games. Organizational sponsor “It’s something worth celebrating.”
The princess, a father of two who stepped back from royal duties in 2020, is reportedly “shocked” and “deeply saddened” by the backlash.
He reportedly considered declining the award before the ceremony.
“He never wants to cause any upset,” former royal butler Grant Harrold told The Washington Post in an exclusive interview.
“If he thinks it will cause upset, there’s a good chance he will decline the award, because he would never want to cause an upset and hearing about the backlash would have an impact on him,” Harold added.
But Harry accepted the award and in his speech thanked Pat’s mother, who was in the audience at the Dolby Theatre.
“The bond between a mother and son is eternal and transcends the greatest loss,” he said, referring to the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in 1997 when he was 12 years old.
Prince Harry founded the Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style multi-sport competition for injured military and veterans, in 2014. He also served in the British Army for 10 years, including two tours of duty in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter pilot and a forward air traffic controller.
