‘Shocking’ Prince Harry decision has Americans in uproar

The growing backlash over the Duke of Sussex being given a prestigious award highlights an even bigger issue he has been battling.

Accepting a nice shiny award should not be a complicated or tricky prospect.

Put on a clean suit, gingerly brush one’s hair with some silver-backed brushes, eat a dry chicken breast in a Hollywood ballroom and get on stage and use words like ‘honour’ and ‘privilege’. Look humble. Remember to thank your wife.

But are things ever simple or straightforward when it comes to Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex?

The backlash over his being named this year’s recipient of the Pat Tillman Award at this year’s ESPYs (Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly) only continues to snowball after the late war hero’s mother Mary said she was “shocked” that the accolade, which typically goes to unsung heroes, will be handed to the “controversial and divisive” Duke.

In the last 24 hours, The New York Times, the Today show, and People, all outlets that have warmly covered the Sussexes in the past, have reported on the mess and a change.org petition urging the ESPYs to “rethink” their choice of Harry has surged past the initial goal of 15,000 signatures and it is now aiming for 50,000.

Prince Harry is big on charity work. Here he poses for a photo after a charity polo game at the Ikoyi Polo Club in Lagos on May 12. Picture: Kola Sulaimon / AFP

This Tillman award situation highlights a much bigger problem for Harry.

What should have been a straightforward, simple shift – his reframing, post-Spare, as a man is dedicated to giving back – has instead been hit by a number of PR debacles in the past six months.

This restyling of Harry should have seen his image by and large shift less from aggrieved son and brother to all-round humanitarian good egg. After all, it’s not only what he does best but clearly loves too.

Except, now, in the space of months, we have had a gold-star mother calling him out; Californian authorities labelling his and wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell Foundation as “delinquent”; and employees of a charity Harry has closely aligned himself with facing a series of allegations of rape, torture and abuse in African communities.

In August last year, Harry himself told a summit in Tokyo, “My life is charity – always has been, always will be.”

This is in line with the shift that emerged after first Harry and Meghan’s Netflix series and then Spare landed.

After a couple of years of the couple as the quintessential poster children for over-sharing, what then emerged was Sussex 2.0 which saw them trade their on-camera carping for infotainment (polo and entertaining TV shows), jam (in the case of Meghan’s still to launch American Riviera Orchard) and Harry’s public image solely focused on his philanthropic work.

The Duke of Sussex has been hit by a number of PR debacles in the last six months. Picture: Kola Sulaimon / AFP

This remaking of the Duke has really come into focus this year, starting with the a trip to Canada to promote next year’s Invictus Games, then to Nigeria in May, again to highlight Invictus, along with Harry appearing via video link to speak to the winners of this year’s Diana Awards and only last week, him undertaking events with the child bereavement charity Scotty’s Little Soldier.

Goodo, then! Except all this, which should have been a sure-fire, slam dunk has coincided with a series of PR hits.

Harry has been involved with the charity African Parks (AP) since 2017, being elevated from president to a board member late last year.

Starting in January, a series of horrifying reports have been published which allege paid AP guards have raped and tortured indigenous people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia.

Last month the Daily Mail reported that at least nine people have lost their lives in Malawi due to rampaging elephants transferred by AP.

In May, the Sussexes’ Archewell Foundation was issued with a “delinquency notice” by California’s attorney general in regard to its 2022 tax return, however the Telegraph reported that the fault lay with a sent cheque not arriving. (This was all soon rectified.)

Now, there is this Tillman situation.

Harry seen meeting members of the public as he departs The Invictus Games Foundation 10th Anniversary Service on May 8 in London. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for Invictus Games Foundation

On Sunday, Mary Tillman said of the Duke getting the award, named in honour of her son, “there are recipients that are far more fitting”.

“There are individuals working in the veteran community that are doing tremendous things to assist veterans,” she said.

“These individuals do not have the money, resources, connections or privilege that Prince Harry has. I feel that those types of individuals should be recognised.”

So far Harry has not said a peep as the Tillman Award clamour grows louder and louder with the general direction of the criticism, based on comments on the online petition, seeming to be that a) he is not American and b) he is viewed by many as having done a bunk on his homeland and family.

Leaving aside the question of the validity or lack thereof of these arguments, the situation remains one of rock meet hard place.

Should the ESPYs or Team Sussex bow out and change their mind, it would be an embarrassing climb down. Yet should things go ahead, it will be with something of a shadow hanging over it all and what should have been a public relations coup marred somewhat.

The silver lining here? The ESPYs does not involve a dinner so Harry won’t have to pretend to enjoy a plate of lukewarm function food and limp parsley garnish.

Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.