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December is for hitting the slopes, even if you’re royalty. And because Aspen is the top destination for skiing in the U.S., it was only a matter of time before Prince Harry made an appearance there. The Duke of Sussex traveled to Colorado last week to attend the St. Regis World Snow Polo Championship.
Aspen Snow Polo’s Instagram page noted that Harry competed on the Aspen Valley team, playing alongside Grant Ganzi and Nic Roldan. Missing from that roster was Nacho Figueras, Harry’s friend and a former professional polo player from Argentina, who was instead a part of the St. Regis team.
Even though they were competitors at the sporting event, the pals were spotted on the slopes before the games began. Figueras and Harry spent a few hours together skiing and having a high-altitude lunch. According to Hello, which first reported the news, “Harry seemed happy and was also joined by a number of male friends on the slopes.”
Harry and Figueras first met in 2007 during a tournament raising funds for Sentebale, a charity founded by the prince. Afterward they bonded over their shared passion for polo. Figueras was among the guests at Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle, and he also appeared in Polo, a docuseries that Harry and Meghan produced for Netflix.
Meghan wasn’t on hand to cheer for her husband this time around; she remained in Montecito, California, with her children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Meghan did share her enthusiasm for the event by sharing a picture of Harry on horseback to her Instagram account.
Earlier this month, the duchess’s father, Thomas Markle, underwent a leg amputation in the Philippines. On December 10, a spokesperson said that Meghan was able to deliver a letter to his bedside, per The Guardian, and criticized the British media for making it difficult for her to have private exchanges with her father. Last week, Harry and Meghan shared their annual holiday card, including a family picture showing Archie and Lilibet in profile.
Meanwhile, Harry’s time in Aspen was his first public appearance in weeks, and he seemed to be enjoying this boys’ weekend in the snow. As a child, the prince would spend vacations with his family in cold destinations like Switzerland. Most years, he still chooses to spend some time on the slopes. In 2024, he even tried sit-skiing during a visit to a training camp ahead of the 2025 Invictus Games in Whistler and Vancouver. That same year, he reportedly took his own children to Powder Mountain Ski Resort in Utah for a family vacation.
Originally published in Vanity Fair Italy.
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Alessia Ferri
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