On July 11, Prince Harry will be honored with the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the ESPY Awards in Los Angeles—and while there, he will likely interface with Travis Kelce, who just one week ago hung out (and had high praise) for Harry’s brother, Prince William, as well as his two eldest children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
Billed as “the Oscars of American sport” by The Sun, the ESPYs “are likely to set up an interesting moment with Kelce” and Harry, who, the outlet reports, will most likely be accompanied by his wife, Meghan Markle, to the ceremony.
Kelce plays tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, who are both defending Super Bowl champions and nominated for Best Team of the Year at the awards ceremony. Kelce’s quarterback and friend Patrick Mahomes is also up for Best Male Athlete at this year’s ESPYs.
In addition to her husband winning an extremely prestigious award, Meghan’s close friend Serena Williams will also be hosting the event.
Harry will likely be “just feet away” from Kelce at the event, a source speaking to The Sun said; they added “It could be interesting, given how much Travis hit it off with William.”
After their meeting, Kelce described the Prince of Wales as “the coolest motherfucker” and praised him for how genuine he was and, perhaps most meaningfully, his parenting skills. “If anyone’s doing it right, Prince William’s doing it right,” Kelce said on his podcast “New Heights,” alongside older brother Jason Kelce, who also praised William, George, and Charlotte.
But, for Kelce, he can be friendly with both brothers, and at the ESPYs next month “Travis is, like, the most sociable, happy go lucky, kind person in any room, and is sure to want to say hello to the Prince [Harry] and interact with the Sussexes,” they said. “That is his style, and, honestly, he is one of the biggest names in U.S. sport. For Harry, it could be a potentially awkward encounter given that Travis spoke so warmly about and praised William. This will make headlines no matter what happens. If Harry ducks Travis, that would look weird, and if they chat, the question will be whether they discussed William.”
The award Harry is winning—no doubt for his work over the past decade with the Invictus Games, which just celebrated its 10-year anniversary last month—is “given to a person with a strong connection to sports who has served others in a way that echoes the legacy of the former NFL player and U.S. Army Ranger, Pat Tillman,” according to ESPN. Tillman died on April 22, 2004 at just 27 years old in Afghanistan while serving there, reportedly as a result of friendly fire.
Harry, ESPN said, won the award named for Tillman “in honor of his tireless work in making a positive impact for the veteran community through the power of sport.”
