Prince Harry was mistakenly identified as his brother, the Prince of Wales, during an awkward moment at a charity event supporting Santa Barbara’s first responders, hosted by actor Kevin Costner.
On Friday, September 20, American singer Richard Marx was performing at the One805!Live concert in California. After his performance, as he exited the backstage area, he nearly overlooked Prince Harry, who was waiting to congratulate him.
An off-camera voice directed Richard, saying, “Richard, Prince Harry,” prompting the singer to approach the Duke of Sussex, who greeted him with “well done” as they shook hands.
Richard’s wife, Daisy Fuentes, shared the video and accompanying photos but mistakenly tagged the Prince and Princess of Wales’s Instagram account.
In addition to mingling with celebrity guests, Prince Harry presented an award at the event. He took the stage to honor Santa Barbara County air support pilot Loren Courtney, recognizing his impressive 22 years of military service and over 10,000 flight hours, often away from his family.
Prince Harry joked, “As you’ve probably heard already, 22 years [of] military service over 10,000 hours and rarely sees his family because he’s always here flying helicopters.” When he asked Loren for a standout experience, the pilot recounted a challenging search-and-rescue operation for a group of skiers in Colorado, one of whom suffered a severe head injury.
Loren shared, “I learned in the military, you never leave anybody behind. We got him out. He spent almost a year in intensive care and then rehab, and now he’s walking. He got married. He actually went to the top of the Grand Tetons and proposed to his girlfriend after the accident.”
Prince Harry quipped, “You didn’t have to rescue him again, did you?” He added, “You are one of the many heroes here tonight. There are people here tonight who are alive because of you and who are back to their families because of you… from everybody here, thank you so much.”
Cameron Diaz, Zoe Saldana, Rob Lowe, and Pink also graced the stage during the concert, held on Kevin’s $26 million polo fields near Santa Barbara. As they introduced Pink, Cameron and Zoe joked about being surrounded by policemen and firefighters, with Cameron quipping that she “may be looking to get arrested.”
The event featured performances by Dallas Green, Kenny Loggins, Joe Bonamassa, Richard Marx, and The Santa Barbara Symphony.
