Prince Harry inspected hurricane-damaged areas of the New Jersey shore Tuesday at the tail end of a US tour that has done much to bury his royal PR disaster last year in being photographed during a strip billiards session in Las Vegas.
The third-in-line to Britain’s throne strolled with New Jersey’s popular and pugnacious governor, Chris Christie, in Seaside Heights, a resort battered by Superstorm Sandy on October 29 last year.
Wearing sunglasses and an open-necked white shirt, Prince Harry witnessed the still visible scars of the storm, which forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and caused $80 billion in regional damage. He then chatted with emergency services workers and local residents.
Christie, widely seen as a possible Republican contender in the 2016 presidential election, remained by the prince’s side throughout the visit — much as he’d promised to do back in March, joking he’d make sure the party-loving royal guest did not repeat his Las Vegas antics.
Prince Harry was engulfed in a tabloid frenzy in August last year when nude photographs of him playing billiards with an unidentified woman were published.
His current US tour, which was to continue Tuesday with a British business promotion event in Manhattan, then end in a charity polo match in posh Greenwich, Connecticut on Wednesday, has been far more sober.
Over the weekend, the serving British army captain attended a paralympic-style competition for wounded servicemen and women called the Warrior Games and last week he paid tribute at the Arlington National Cemetery to US soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan .
There has been little sign of Prince Harry’s playboy tendencies, although the bachelor’s presence did prompt unusual levels of excitement among young Senate staffers during a visit to Capitol Hill to promote land mine clearance.
His final event at the polo match will benefit his Sentebale charity, which helps vulnerable children in Lesotho.
Prince Harry tours hurricane hit New Jersey
