Prince Harry accepted Pat Tillman Award despite immense criticism and hateful media campaign
Prince Harry decided to ignore the backlash and negative media coverage and accepted the Pat Tillman Award for Service at 2024 ESPY Awards.
The announcement of the award met with mindless backlash against the Duke of Sussex which also prompted a petition that got over 70,000 signatures from critics.
It was expected that Harry would not accept the controversial award, however, he surprised everyone when he appeared to receive his accolade alongside his wife Meghan Markle.
Revealing the reason behind Harry’s decision to accept the award despite backlash, former royal butler Grant Harrold, claimed that the Prince did so to “stand up for what he believes in.”
He told The Post, “I thought he was going to decline it because that’s just his nature, but maybe Harry has got to a point where he’s just decided he’s going to do what he wants and as I said, because of his military background and because of the Invictus Games, it’s something he feels really passionate about.”
“He’s accepting the award on the behalf of military personnel, so in a weird way he probably sees it as his duty to accept it,” Harrold added.
“That’s why I think he’s done it and maybe he’s decided to ignore the people that are trying to be negative about it.”
The former butler, who knew Harry personally, went on to add that the Duke’s move sends the message to people that he appreciates what he does with the Invictus Games.
“It also shows people respect him for what he has done from his career in the military, which I think is also important,” he continued.
“His military career was really important to Harry, I remember this, it was also very important to his late grandmother [Queen Elizabeth II] and grandfather [Prince Philip] who were very proud of him as well and what he has achieved.”
