Prince Harry looks glum as he watches Australia beat Argentina at Twickenham. Photo / Getty Images
Prince Harry looks glum as he watches Australia beat Argentina at Twickenham. Photo / Getty Images
Poor Prince Harry can't take a trick. Just about everything that could go wrong has for the royal face for the Rugby World Cup.
Harry looked glum in Twickeham's stands at the end of this morning's second semi-final as Australia booked an all-antipodean showdown against Richie McCaw's All Blacks.
Prince Harry puts his head in his hands as Australia beat England in their pool match. Photo / Getty Images
Prince Harry cheers on as England win the Rugby World Cup in 2003. Photo / Getty Images
It was undoubtedly not the scenario the rugby-loving prince had in mind when he was the starring role of the opening ceremony at the London ground five weeks ago. Along with England's 2003 World Cup-winning hero Jonny Wilkinson, Prince Harry made a cameo as a peasant gardener in a video big screen recreation of the game's beginnings.
In his role as patron for England's Rugby Football Union, he formally opened an event the host nation had every chance of going all the way to the final in. He also spent considerable time at the English team's base at Pennyhill Park during the first few weeks of the Cup and welcomed the players into Buckingham Palace.
But it went sadly awry for Prince Harry early in the tournament despite hopes of England repeating their feat of winning the event in Australia 12 years ago.
He found himself sitting next to his older brother, the Prince of Wales and not surprisingly the patron of the Wales Rugby Union, with an uncomfortable look on his face while William belted out a passionate version of the Welsh national anthem.
It got a lot more uncomfortable for Harry win Wales won the crucial pool match to cause the splinters in the England dream.
The Wallabies of course finished the job a week later, leaving England as the first hosts never to advance to the tournament knockout stages.
Prince Harry jokingly calls Jerome Kaino during a visit ot New Zealand in May 2015. Photo / Getty Images
Kaino sees the lighter side of Harry's gentle ribbing. Photo / Getty Images
To be fair to the popular prince, he hasn't spat the dummy and was at Twickenham this morning to soak up the atmosphere. But judging by the look on his face, Harry was rather disappointed to see Australia win. Who will he be rooting for this Sunday?
Officials say that's a secret but if a recent visit to Buckingham Palace by top players and coaches from the leading nations last week is any indication, he leans towards the All Blacks.
Kieran Read puts Harry through his paces at an All Blacks training session in May 2015. Photo / Getty Images
The prince met Jerome Kaino and Keven Mealamu, who presented him with an All Blacks jersey, during his trip to New Zealand in May this year.
"Finally, I get one of these," he told Mealamu during the function at Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital.
He is also a fan of the haka, on the same trip earlier this year performing the traditional dance and war chantwith soldiers at the Linton Military Camp. And a Palace insider said Harry showed far more interest in seeking out the All Blacks than the Wallabies when they visited the Queen last week.
Let's hope that's an omen for victory and not a curse.
