Despite intense backlash, Prince Harry went ahead and accepted the Pat Tillman Award at the ESPY (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) Awards on Thursday, July 11. The Duke of Sussex was controversially chosen to receive the special gong for service at the ESPN ceremony, with over 75,000 people signing a petition calling for the honor to be taken away from him.
At the forefront of the naysayers was Pat Tillman’s own mother, Mary, with the parent of the late NFL player and military vet who died in Afghanistan criticizing ESPN for not choosing someone else in the veteran community over Harry, who was awarded due to his founding of the Invictus Games, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
In a gracious move, Harry extended some kind words to Mary Tillman during his acceptance speech on the night. “Her advocacy for Pat’s legacy is deeply personal and one that I respect,” the prince declared, before alluding to his own personal loss — the death of his mother, Princess Diana. “The bond between a mother and son is eternal and transcends even the greatest losses,” Harry said, in a heartfelt admission.
Meghan Markle joined Harry at the awards, but rumors (of dubious veracity) nonetheless predict an unhappy future for the duke and duchess.
Prince Harry predicted to return to the Royal fold in years to come, when he’s less “petrified” of Meghan
Another day, another Royal expert who seems to despise Meghan Markle’s very existence. In the latest episode of Everyone Hates Meghan, it’s being claimed that Prince Harry will return to the Royal family’s side eventually, after all. But it’s not going to happen anytime soon, because the duke is apparently “petrified” of his wife.
Royal historian and biographer Hugh Vickers opined to The Sun that if the British people are all very polite and nice to him then Harry may ultimately decide to return to the U.K. — but there’s no way he’s going to do so with Meghan by his side.
“I think he’ll come home — and if he comes home, we must be very nice to him, because he won’t particularly want to. He’s quite angry,” Vickers stated, before stressing that this possibility is going to be years away if it’s ever going to happen, given that he admitted his personal opinion that Harry is under Meghan’s thumb and does what she tells him to do: “I personally think that he looks like he’s petrified of losing her [Meghan] and looks slightly petrified of her.”
According to Vickers, Harry could be breaking bread with his family once more in about a decade. Well, we do know the duke believes in the “eternal bonds” that bind family members, so I guess we’ll have to see whether his bonds with King Charles and Prince William are strong enough to endure all the twists and turns that are stretching and straining them at present.