Prince Harry’s recent award nomination has been blasted as “the most embarrassing thing ever”.
The US-based royal has recently been honoured for his work in making a positive impact in the veteran community through the Invictus Games charity, which he founded in 2014.
Harry will receive a memorial award set up in the name of Pat Tillman – an American football player who gave up a £3million contract to enlist in the US Army after 9/11 and died by friendly fire.
Speaking on TalkTV, royal commentator Kinsey Schofield said: “This [Pat Tillman] was a man that truly lived a life of service which is what Harry and Megan promised us when they left the British Royal Family.”
She added that people are “having a hard time” putting the two men “in the same category”.
Sports commentator and ex-NFL star Pat McAfee slammed the ESPY Awards for shortlisting the Duke for the award.
“A lot of conversation about Pat Tillman’s name,” McAfee remarked. “American hero … Now there’s an award named after him, as there should be in the sports world because that is somebody who is the definition of selfless.”
He continued: “It’s going to Prince Harry, who I don’t even think is a prince anymore.”
Boston Connor, McAfee’s sidekick on the show, went as far as to call Prince Harry’s nod “probably the most embarrassing thing I’ve seen in my entire life”.
The Invictus Games was founded on a trip to the Warrior Games in the USA in 2013, “when Prince Harry saw how the power of sport could help wounded servicemen and women in their recovery – physically, psychologically and socially,” according to the Royal Family’s official website.
Harry served in the military for 10 years and was deployed on active duty to Afghanistan on two occasions in 2007 and 2008.
