PRINCE HARRY made an appearance at the Beaufort Polo Club last Sunday to take part in a charity polo match in aid of the Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund and the Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign, for which he is a patron.

Despite the Prince scoring an excellent early goal, his team Strahisla could not hold on to the lead and were beaten 7 to 5.5 against the home Beaufort team who lifted the Bernhard Weatherill Charity Polo Cup.

HRH saddled up in front of a crowd in excess of 3,000 for an exciting four-chukka match. He played at breakneck speed from the off.

The other members of the Strahisla team were Saeed Bin Drai, Sebastian Pailloncy and Mark Tomlinson, who also played in the international match on the previous day when England beat New Zealand 10 to 6.5.

It was England’s first match under new coach Carlos Gracida. The legendary Mexican inspired fantastic team play including pinpoint passing and his players showed an almost telepathic reading of the game.

Prince Harry arrived at the last minute to present Luke Tomlinson, captain of the winning team, with the trophy.

"Winning at Beaufort gives us a real boost going into the Cartier International later in the year,” said Tomlinson. “It was a new formation and despite the heavy ground due to the weather it worked really well."

The winning team also included Mark Tomlinson, brother of Luke, Nacho Gonzalez and James Beim.

In the second match, England Ladies demolished Young England with a punishing display of tenacious polo, winning 7.5 to 4.

The charity polo match attracted a host of celebrities such as Girls Aloud’s Sara Harding, X Factor runner-up Diana Vickers, fashion designer Henry Holland and Anna Abramovich, daughter of the Russian oligarch.

Prince Harry’s cousin Zara Phillips and her fiancée Mike Tindall were also there ahead of their nuptials next month.

PAUL TAPNER was forced to retire Stormhill Michael from the four-star Luhmuhlen Horse Trials last weekend due to an injury in the cross country.

The Australian event rider, who is based in Highworth, was given a scare when his horse attempted to bank the elevated water tray and all but lay down on top of the obstacle.

Stormhill Michael valiantly scrambled up and completed the round flawlessly, although the slip-up did cost 7.6 time penalties.

Despite Paul’s head girl Zoe Wilkinson working to improve the condition of Stormhill Michael overnight, Paul had to withdraw the horse from the final stage of the event.

Before the team left Luhmuhlen, Paul said that Stormhill Michael had a ‘severe but not long term injury’.

The event was eventually won by Andreas Dibowski, a German native who was born just an hour away from Luhmuhlen in Hamburg.