Prince Harry made the most of his Los Angeles star power to get his hands on the Super Bowl trophy in the Rams’ locker room on Sunday as he rubbed shoulders with their billionaire owner.
The Duke of Sussex, who watched the game in the stands with his cousin Princess Eugenie, stripped off his mask as he congratulated the players and coaches after their victory, but it appears not all of them were too bothered by the royal visit.
Photos shared on the Rams’ social media showed players staring at their phones and looking around the room while Harry inspected the trophy alongside Stan Kroenke, who is worth an estimated $10.7billion.
LA Rams shared the images with the caption: ‘Feelin’ like royalty.’
During the game, Harry had been wearing a black face mask as he cheered on his new home team for their second championship title.
But upon heading inside to hobnob with the stars and players, Harry took off his mask, despite LA County rules insisting that face coverings be worn by everyone regardless of vaccination status in all indoor public settings and outdoor ‘mega events’ with crowds of more than 5,000 people.
Prince Harry made the most of his Los Angeles star power to get his hands on the Super Bowl trophy in the Rams’ locker room on Sunday, but not all the players were interested in meeting the royal, and instead sat on their phones. Harry is pictured alongside owner Stan Kroenke (center) and chief operating officer Kevin Demoff (left)
The Duke of Sussex, who watched the game in the stands with his cousin Princess Eugenie, stripped off his mask as he congratulated the players and coaches
NFL rules for the Super Bowl reinforced the LA rules, saying there was a ‘mandatory mask requirement inside the stadium’
The mask mandate, which has ended today, at the time said people can remove their mask while ‘actively eating or drinking as long as you are sitting or standing in a specific place such as a table, counter, or ticketed seat’.
NFL rules for the Super Bowl reinforced the LA rules, saying there was a ‘mandatory mask requirement inside the stadium for everyone over two years of age regardless of vaccination status’ unless ‘actively eating or drinking’.
During the celebrations, Harry met Cedric the Entertainer, the comedian who made fun of the Royal Family at the Emmys last September.
That followed the bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview in March in which Meghan claimed an unnamed royal made a comment about how dark her unborn child’s skin might be.
Cedric had said last September: ‘As great as The Crown is, it pales in comparison to the real monarchy… Ooooh, I mean that Oprah interview with Prince Harry and Meghan. That was the real tea right there, wasn’t it!? Meghan must put it on that boy because he renounced his throne quicker than Eddie Murphy in Coming to America.
LA Rams shared the images with the caption: ‘Feelin’ like royalty’ in the wake of their victory
Prince Harry appeared to break Los Angeles mask rules at the Super Bowl while meeting Cedric the Entertainer backstage at the Super Bowl on Sunday, as he greeted the actor having removed his face covering that he had been wearing while seated
Harry and Eugenie wore masks to attend the game which saw the Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday
‘I can’t believe they were talking about little Archie. How dark that little baby gonna be. They need little Archie. Charles can’t dance, who else going to teach them how to TikTok. I can just see it now, baby Archie with the Queen, like come on gammy. The whole crown behind them like, ‘OK your majesty, I see you’.’
The other woman Harry was sat next to at the Super Bowl was LA-born singer Mila J, who was not wearing a mask in videos she posted on Instagram. Mila J is the older sister of Jhene Aiko who performed America The Beautiful at the game.
Harry, 37, sat with Eugenie, 31, in premium seats at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday which was part of a suite sponsored by tech firm Salesforce, one of the official partners of BetterUp, which is the San Francisco-based corporate and personal coaching company that Harry works for as ‘chief impact officer’.
Revealing the news that Harry visited the locker room, leading sports writer Peter King told The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz: ‘The most interesting thing to me is how in LA football has been revived.
‘I missed him last night but he was in the Rams’ locker room. Prince Harry was in the locker room hanging out with the Rams. Cardi B was in the building last night at this party. It’s just when you win in sport, there are crazy things that happen to your team. The Rams are winning, they are in LA, people love them.’
Harry’s wife Meghan Markle was not at the match, but it is likely that she was at home at their $14million Montecito mansion about a two-hour drive away, looking after their children Archie, two, and eight month-old Lilibet.
Prince Harry and cousin Princess Eugenie are pictured enjoying Sunday’s Super Bowl at the SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles
Eugenie and Prince Harry are known to get on well, and Meghan actually knew the Princess before she had even met Harry
Meghan’s biographer Omid Scobie revealed Eugenie is visiting Los Angeles with her husband Jack Brooksbank and their son August who turned one last week, but it is not clear whether they are staying with the Sussexes.
Mr Scobie added that Harry and Eugenie were seen dancing during the half-time show as Dr Dre led a crew of all star rappers in a throwback to their community hip-hip roots.
Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J Blige and Kendrick Lamar were involved in the event which saw a surprise appearance from 50 Cent in front of the 70,000 crowd.
Eugenie could also be in California as part of a work trip. She works as a director for the London branch of global art gallery Hauser and Wirth, which has a stand at this week’s art fair Frieze Los Angeles starting on Thursday.
And Eugenie shared a photograph yesterday with Mr Brooksbank under blossom trees taken in an undisclosed location and an unknown time, posting on Instagram to wish her 1.5million followers ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’.
The Princess has become the first member of the Royal Family to make a public visit to Harry in California two years after he quit as a senior royal, as concern mounts back in Britain over the Duke’s forthcoming tell-all biography overshadowing celebrations in May and June for his grandmother the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Prince Harry was also sat next to LA singer Mila J (right), the older sister of Jhene Aiko who performed America The Beautiful
Some Twitter users initially mistook Eugenie for Meghan at the game, but the Duchess was not there. And royal observers said Eugenie’s presence shows Harry ‘is not completely out in the cold’ despite the feud with his family.
Meghan is also close to Eugenie having been introduced to her before she had even met Harry, through their mutual friend Misha Nonoo. It therefore seems possible that Eugenie could be staying with the Sussexes in the US.
Harry and Eugenie will have had plenty to discuss, with the Royal Family left deeply concerned by the Duke’s decision to secretly collaborate with Pulitzer-winning ghostwriter JR Moehringer on what his publishers described as ‘the definitive account of the experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons that have helped shape him’.
The Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William are said to were completely blindsided by Harry’s shock announcement that he had been secretly working on his as yet untitled memoirs for more than a year now.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told MailOnline that Eugenie could be an ‘intermediary’ and suggested she could persuade Harry to alter some of the contents of the book to make it less of an attack on the royals.
And a source told MailOnline: ‘Harry and Eugenie have always been close ever since they were children. He always makes her laugh. They share a sense of humour. She is friends with Meghan too, and was close to his two previous girlfriends Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas. It was Eugenie who helped set up Harry and Cressida. She refuses to abandon him. She is a very loyal lady. She is not one for taking sides.’
Harry and Eugenie are thought to have been watching the game from the seats highlighted in red (top left and top right)
Harry stayed at Frogmore Cottage with Eugenie on the two times he has visited the UK and had to quarantine since his decision to step down as a senior royal. The Princess even backed one of Meghan’s many causes, helping out in 40X40, an Archewell mentoring programme for women who want to return to work after the pandemic. And she shared an image of the Archewell website on her Instagram account to celebrate Meghan’s 40th birthday.
The source added: ‘With Harry’s communication with the family limited Eugenie could be his one conduit to a reconciliation. But that seems a long way off. She is close to the Queen and to Harry and Meghan and their meeting shows he is not completely out in the cold.’
Harry also came under fire last week for seemingly ignoring that the Queen had moved to make his stepmother Camilla the Queen Consort when Prince Charles accedes to the throne. That was despite a source claiming Harry had extended an olive branch to his father last month in a bid to heal their rift ahead of the Jubilee celebrations.
Harry and Eugenie have been friends since childhood despite their six-year age gap and are known to still get on well despite the Duke’s removal from royal public life in Britain and his repeated attacks on his wider family.
And Eugenie’s visit will be viewed by some observers as a potential effort to rebuild broken bridges between Harry and the rest of the family – with an important series of royal occasions coming up over the next few months.
These include a service of thanksgiving for Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey on March 29, a year after his death aged 99, and events to mark the Jubilee most notably in Windsor on May 12 to 15 and in London on June 2 to 5.
Harry, Eugenie and Jay Z were among the only famous faces pictured wearing masks while at the Super Bowl – with many others including Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck, Kanye West, Beyonce and Rita Ora all seen without them.
Other stars spotted without masks in the stands included Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Kevin Hart, Rebel Wilson, Adam Devine, Charlize Theron, Matt Damon, Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds – although some were holding drinks.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk