Prince Harry will be honored with an ESPY award during the annual ceremony in Los Angeles next month. The ESPYs (or “The Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards”) honor athletic achievements from individuals or teams throughout the previous year. Prince Harry is not winning for his polo skills, however, but his Invictus Foundation charity. The Duke of Sussex will be awarded the Pat Tillman Award for Service in honor of “his tireless work in making a positive impact for the veteran community through the power of sport.”
The Pat Tillman Award honors “a person with a strong connection to sports” who has served others in a manner that echoes the spirit of former NFL player and US Army Ranger, Pat Tillman. A statement from the ESPYs noted Prince Harry’s own military service, as a forward air controller and Apache helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, and celebrated the Invictus Foundation’s commitment to supporting the mental and physical health of wounded servicemen and women through sport. Footballer Marcus Rashford won the same award in 2021 for raising funds to feed school children during Covid lockdowns.
The biennial Invictus Games, says the ESPY awards, has “transcended borders and impacted lives across every continent, bringing together competitors from 23 nations, with continued support and programming 365 days of the year.” Prince Harry founded the Invictus Games in 2014 after attending the Warrior Games in the United States the prior year. This award ceremony, therefore, will be somewhat of a homecoming for the charity, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. The Duke of Sussex will also be among friends, as the event will be hosted by tennis legend Serena Williams, a confidant of Meghan Markle. The seven-time Wimbledon champion, herself a recipient of 12 ESPYs, attended the Sussexes’ wedding in 2018 and Prince Archie’s New York baby shower the year after.
