Prince Harry meets joins youngsters for handball in London

Prince Harry meets joins youngsters for handball in London



As his relationship with girlfriend, Meghan Markle, grows ever more serious, Prince Harry proved he’ll make a good dad one day.

The Queen’s grandson made a tearful little boy’s day as he swung him around during an innercity park handball match – and even helped to serve up lunch at the end of it.

The 32-year-old royal, who openly admits how broody he is, was at a children's Fit and Fed session at Central Park in East Ham, London, which lays on sports and a meal for youngsters at risk of going undernourished when not in school.

But things got a little bit much for Kavya Patel, six, when he could not get the ball and his side let in a goal.

Fortunately Harry was on hand to give him an affectionate rub on the head before a teacher led him off the pitch to compose himself.



When the little boy ran back on he seemed to have fallen in love with the prince, hugging him several times.

The youngster said afterwards: ‘Prince Harry loves to play. It was exciting. I was flying around and swinging around and I felt dizzy.’



Describing the moment he got upset, he said: ‘It was because I tried to reach up and then someone just got the ball. Then it just fell in. Then he made me swing.’

Prince Harry also took a turn to hand out plates of sandwiches, salads and couscous.

Clearly, though, he still has something to learn about children, telling one youngster: ‘So much to choose from, just take it all.

‘If you like the look of it but you don't want to eat it, you can always give it to someone else.’



The caring royal even broke royal protocol by holding the hand of an elderly woman with Myeloma cancer who came up to greet him.

Urmila Trivei, 76, who struggles to see and hear, said: ‘He said 'how are you?' and he asked me about the children.

‘I said I was just out enjoying the park and saw him helping the children.’

But he caught the acid tongue of mischievous Shaima Agbogbodo, ten, who joked: ‘It's Ed Sheeran.’

Shaima, from Newham, confessed she did know who the Prince was, but added: ‘He looks like Ed Sheeran - I only like his songs, I don't like the way he looks.

'Prince Harry is like Ed Sheeran but 100 times better. Ed Sheeran is not very handsome.’



Harry had a more serious message for the volunteers who gave up their time to make the event happen, including a group of lads from local boxing and martial arts gym Fight for Peace.

He told them: ‘It's a mentoring roll, that's really important. You've got to tell these kids to keep active.

‘They don't want to hear it from me. They want to hear it from you. No pressure guys but the responsibility is on your shoulders.

‘Well done you. Brilliant. You could be doing so many other things but you've given up your time for the community.’ He added: ‘I fight with my brother a lot.’

Harry made the comment playfully but has previously confessed he did use boxing to get out his frustration as he was coming to terms with the death of his mother.

‘The best thing about that is letting out your aggression and getting fit as well,’ he said.



Throughout the summer, leisure trust active Newham plans to deliver 41 sessions in Central Park, with around 60 local children attending each day.

Fit and Fed, which brings together community organisations from the StreetGames, Ambition and Sported networks, will operate in 100 disadvantaged neighbourhoods across the country this summer, and in 2017 aims to help 12,000 children and young people.

Research has shown 60 per cent of families with an annual income of £25,000 cannot always afford food during the holidays, and families on less than £15,000 report a constant struggle.



In the London borough's Central Park Harry chatted to coaches leading the sessions, run by the leisure trust activeNewham together with Fight for Peace, which is encouraging five to 14-year-olds to take part in a range of activities from football and tennis to rounders and cricket.

Harry also met Fit and Fed volunteers as they serve the lunches and later chatted to children and young people to learn first-hand about their experiences of the project.

On Friday, the Red Cross released photos of a private visit Harry made to volunteers helping in the relief effort in the wake of the Grenfell fire disaster.

Dressed in a smart blue suit, he could be seen chatting to workers helping to sort through the large number of donations made to the victims of the tower block inferno at a Royal Mail site in Greenford, north-west London.