Why?! Prince Harry to get ESPY

Cockburn blinked twice when he saw that Prince Harry, the not-so-honorable Duke of Sussex will receive the Pat Tillman Award for service. At the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, or ESPYs, Prince Harry will be granted the award for his strong connection to sports and for serving the way Pat Tillman did. 

Social media reactions to this news did not disappoint: “what sport did he play professionally again” “that is absolute treason” “is this a joke?” and “profoundly unamerican move imo.”

Many in the comments section were quick to remind the haters that Harry founded the Invictus Games, a “community for all international wounded, injured or sick servicemen and women, serving or veteran.” Prince Harry founded the Invictus Games in 2013. “I have witnessed first-hand how the power of sport can positively impact the lives of wounded, injured and sick Servicemen and women in their journey of recovery,” Prince Harry said as he launched the games.

British journalist Robert Jobson said of the Invictus Games this year: “It been very successful since its outset. It doesn’t come cheap, it costs a lot of money, and he’s been able to continue to raise that money throughout this period, which is impressive.” So great is the success of the Invictus Games that Prince William is supposedly jealous of his younger brother because of it. Harry also served for ten years in the British Armed Forces, including two tours of duty in Afghanistan.

Whether or not Harry’s accomplishments measure up to Pat Tillman’s legacy is up for debate. Tillman was a professional football player who decided to quit football and join the US Army after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Tillman was named Pacific-10 Defensive Player of the Year at Arizona State University before being drafted by the Arizona Cardinals. After three years in the NFL, Tillman joined the army and was later killed during a mission in Afghanistan in 2004. The Tillman Award is given to a player “that most exemplifies the willingness to serve.”

It’s very ironic, Cockburn finds, that Prince Harry was given an award that reflects Pat Tillman’s service: a man who was known for humility about his accomplishments that came his way, and never directed any attention to himself.

Harry, the poor lad, has always been vying for attention. Back in 2018, Harry started some drama by telling William that he wasn’t doing enough to include his recent wife Meghan in the British royal family. This accusation has evolved into a huge royal rift — involving things like ITV’s documentary Harry & Meghan: An African Journey where Harry formally admits to the feud, the Netflix documentary and Harry’s memoir, Meghan and Harry’s announcement in January 2020 that they’d be stepping back from their senior royal duties, and the statement from Her Majesty the Queen in that same month: “The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family.” HRH titles take the form of “your royal highness,” so Meghan and Harry still retain their “Duke and Duchess of Sussex” titles — kind of. They no longer receive “public funds for Royal duties.”

While some say giving Prince Harry the Pat Tillman award is “profoundly un-American,” Cockburn checked on the past recipients. In 2020, Kim Clavel was given the award — a Canadian. In 2021, British soccer player Marcus Rashford received the award.

So while Prince Harry’s accomplishments likely garner some kind of recognition, the irony of an attention-seeking British royal receiving an American sports award isn’t lost on Cockburn.