Prince Harry has laughed off his latest controversy, making jokes in his first public appearance since naked photos of him partying in Las Vegas surfaced two weeks ago.
According to observers, the prince was “joking and relaxed” at a charity event on Monday, his first royal duty for the first time since the scandal broke.
In a speech he gave before handing out awards for the WellChild charity for seriously ill children, the prince jokingly alluded to the incident.
“All of you, children, families, nurses, doctors, carers, volunteers are quite frankly too remarkable for me adequately to describe with mere words,” he said.
“But never one to be shy in coming forward, I’ll give it a go,” the prince added with a grin as the audience burst into laughter.
Harry wasn’t the only one willing to joke about the incident.
Six-year-old Alex Logan, one of the children being honoured at the awards told an ITV news crew that if he got to meet Harry he planned to say “I’m glad you’ve got your clothes on”.
When Prince Harry got around to shaking the boy’s hand he had already heard of Alex’s plans.
“It looks like you’re dying to say something but you’re worried [your mum will] tell you off,” the prince said to the six-year-old.
“I heard you were on ITV earlier and you said something cheeky but let’s not talk about that here.”
Harry was happy to joke with other children, an observer said he hugged each one and was warm and relaxed in their company.
He shared a laugh with five-year-old Hope Hills, who gave the prince two sloppy kisses on the face.
“But we’ve only just met!” joked Harry.
