Featured Image Credit: X/@InvictusGames25
Topics: Prince Harry, Royal Family, UK News, US News
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Prince Harry, Royal Family, UK News, US News
Back in September, the Duke of Sussex went viral online after being papped in a New York City tattoo parlour famed for inking some of the world's biggest-name stars.
Only now have we finally discovered exactly why Prince Harry was associated with the body art studio earlier this year, following mass speculation surrounding the type of tattoo the much-loved royal likely received.
At the time, 40-year-old California-resident Harry was seen in the company of several NYPD officers in the Big Apple's Lower East Side.
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Despite initial fear that he was under arrest, the British royal was simply being escorted by the guards to a tattoo shop known to have been frequented by the likes of Rihanna and Robert Downey Jr.
Witnesses later told press that the father-of-two - who shares son Archie and daughter Lilibet with ex-Suits actress wife Meghan Markle - visited the studio for around an hour before re-emerging.
He was then driven away without giving spectators a clue what he'd been up to.
The parlour's owner Josh Lord later told press he could 'neither confirm nor deny' whether Harry had received any body art.
"We'd all probably love to speculate a little bit on what anybody else would get," he jibed at the time. "But a tattoo, of course, is a very deeply personal choice."
And weirdly, it has taken two months for the truth over the Prince's tattoo shop visit to be revealed to the public.
It turns out that the entire fiasco was used as a means of promoting the upcoming Invictus Games, set to take place in Vancouver, Canada in January 2025, which Harry founded all the way back in 2014.
In a video shared to the Games' official Twitter account, the red-haired royal can be seen chatting to the shop's owner, Lord, who himself introduces another pretty special guest.
US musician Jelly Roll - who has since been revealed as the Games' official headliner - then enters the scene, telling Harry: "Do you know, I could not believe it when they called me and told me Prince Harry wanted to get a tattoo today and he wanted me to give him his first tattoo?"
Then, after a seemingly confused Harry asks him, 'No, no, no, why are you wearing a glove?, Jelly Roll explains: "We are giving you a tattoo about the Invictus Games."
In the comedy sketch, Harry then clarifies that he asked the singer 'to do' the games, not to give him a tattoo, after which Jelly Roll gives him an ultimatum - he'll perform if he's allowed to tattoo his neck.
"Trust me, man, you wouldn’t want nobody else doing this," Harry is told, before the musician appears to ink the words, 'I am Jelly Roll' on Harry’s neck, with the Prince screaming in pretend pain.