Since Prince Harry landed in the U.S. on May 9, he has devoted the trip to doing good deeds — attending a Mother’s Day tea for military moms with First Lady Michelle Obama, cheering up the injured at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and playing a rousing game of sitting volleyball with wounded veterans during the Warrior Games, a paralympic sporting competition in Colorado Springs (see above). He even squeezed in time to sing “Happy Birthday” to Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin on May 10. And today, he is at the Jersey Shore, touring the areas hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy.
While the media has joked that the Prince is on his best behavior after TMZ published embarrassing photos of the rowdy royal playing naked billiards in a Las Vegas hotel room during his last trip to the States, the Prince has been doing charity work around the world since he was a teen. Inspired by the above photo of Prince Harry holding a volleyball during the Warrior Games on May 11, NewsFeed decided to look back at the third heir to the British throne‘s past official trips — mostly philanthropic — through pictures of him holding things, from a puppy to support an organization that gives dogs to disabled people, to a python to promote wildlife conservation efforts. No, you won’t find images of the naked royal holding his “crown jewels” in this particular round-up — but if you’d like a refresher, click here.
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Prince Harry holds a navy blue fleece that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie presented to the royal this morning when the young man arrived to tour the Jersey Shore towns Mantoloking and Seaside Heights, which were ravaged by Hurricane Sandy. The jacket has become the Republican politician’s signature item ever since he wore it in the immediate aftermath of the superstorm; he even parodied it at the New Jersey Correspondents Dinner last week. During the Prince’s visit to the Jersey Shore, he played carnival games with children in Seaside Heights and talked to residents and business owners who are still rebuilding.
Here’s Harry holding an echidna (think anteater with spikes) at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney on September 23, 2003, at the beginning of his gap year. While he may not look too wild about wildlife in this photo, he proved he had a way with animals by spending most of his stint Down Under at a ranch in Queensland learning how to be a “jackaroo” – the Aussie term for a sheep or cattle hand.
Samir Hussein / WireImage / Getty Images
Prince Harry holds an eight-foot African rock python snake at the Mokolodi Nature Preserve’s Education Centre in Gaborone, Botswana, on June 15, 2010. The Prince stayed calm, while the reptile started urinating. Harry was traveling across Southern Africa with his brother Prince William as the two visited their respective charities; Prince William has been the royal patron of Tusk Trust, a conservation organization, while Prince Harry co-founded Sentebale, which helps impoverished children with HIV/AIDs.
Kirsty Wigglesworth / Pool / Reuters
Prince Harry holds Veyron, an eight-week-old puppy named after the super sports car Bugatti Veyron, during a July 13, 2010, visit to the Canine Partners Training Centre in southern England. The organization provides dogs specially trained to help disabled people get around.
Prince Harry holds a boxing kangaroo, the mascot for Australian Olympic sports, when he visits the Athletes Village in Olympic Park on July 31, 2012, Day 4 of the London Summer Olympics. The royal, an accomplished athlete himself, served as an official ambassador to the Olympic and Paralympic games, and was charged with raising awareness about the sporting competition and its athletes and promoting values like hard work and sportsmanship.
Ben Birchall / Pool / Reuters
Prince Harry laughs as he holds a defective air horn that he was supposed to use to kick off the Royal British Legion’s March for Honour at the opening of the Royal British Legion Wootton Bassett Field of Remembrance on November 9, 2010. During the ceremony, the royal planted a cross dedicated to Lance Corporal of Horse Jonathan Woodgate, a friend who served with him in the Household Cavalry Regiment and was killed by a grenade while on foot patrol in Afghanistan in March of that year.
Anwar Hussein / Getty Images
On September 12, 2002 – just a few days before his 18th birthday – Prince Harry holds a bucket of water on his head at the Osmani School in east London, where the international charity Merlin was teaching students about international health issues. To honor the memory of his mother Princess Diana – who died in a car crash in 1997 – he spent the day visiting charities throughout the city, from Kids Company – an organization that helps homeless and drug addict kids start anew – to Great Ormond Street Hospital, where his mother helped open new children’s wards.