A look back at the royals in Palm Beach County: When Charles, Diana, Prince Harry visited
Queen Elizabeth II did visit Florida, but the royal family had ties to Palm Beach.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrived in Palm Beach County on Friday, April 12, and headed to the Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington for the Royal Salute Polo Challenge to benefit Sentebale.

This is the second time Harry, 39, has played polo in Wellington. In 2016, a similar Sentebale charity event was held at Valiente Polo Farms.

Harry is a co-founder of Sentebale, which works with children in Lesotho and Botswana, in southern Africa, impacted by poverty and health issues like HIV. Sentebale means “forget-me-not” in Sesotho, the language of Lesotho.

Harry was part of a panel Thursday, April 11, at Zaytinya, a restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton in South Beach, to address health and wealth inequity, and also climate challenges facing youth in Africa.

The royal family always seems to make news, even when they visit the United States.

Here’s a look back at when members of the royal family visited Palm Beach County.

2016: Prince Harry plays a charity polo match in Wellington
In 2016, Prince Harry, the younger son of Princess Diana and Prince Charles, visited Palm Beach County to play a charity polo match at Valiente Polo Farm in Wellington.

Queen Elizabeth visits to Florida:Miami wristwatches, crystal palm tree from Tampa among welcome gifts

From the Post archives:Prince Charles bestows royal name, presence to polo club in Florida

1989: Prince of Wales bestows name, presence to polo club north of Palm Beach County
In 1989, the Prince of Wales visited Florida to inaugurate the Windsor Polo and Beach Club. The heir to the British throne lent his presence and his family name — Windsor — to a commercial development owned by friends.

The polo club, 10 miles north of Vero Beach in Indian River County, was the brainchild of Geoffrey and Jorie Kent. He was born in East Africa, she was from Oak Brook, Illinois, and together they owned Abercrombie & Kent, a travel company specializing in expensive trips to exotic places. Geoffrey Kent and the prince had been playing polo together for years and founded the Windsor Park Polo Team in England in 1987.

Following the inauguration of the new club in Vero Beach, Kent and the Prince of Wales played for the Windsor Park Polo Team at the Palm Beach Polo and Country Club in Wellington.

1980: Prince of Wales admitted to hospital in West Palm Beach
In 1980, the Prince of Wales was admitted to what is now Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach after suffering from heat exhaustion. He had spent a rigorous afternoon on horseback on the polo fields of Wellington in 90-degree heat. He was released the next day, flew to Eleuthera in the Bahamas and returned to Wellington a few days later.

1985: Prince Charles, Princess Diana attend controversial event at The Breakers in Palm Beach
In 1985, Prince Charles brought his wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, to Wellington and Palm Beach in a visit marred by controversy over a $5,000-a-head banquet at The Breakers that was to benefit a college in New Mexico.

In a speech at the banquet, the prince chastised critics of the benefit’s host, industrialist Armand Hammer. There also was a flap over Patricia Kluge, the ball’s co-chair, who resigned after it was revealed that, years earlier, she had posed nude for a British magazine.

The Breakers:Five things you may not know about the Palm Beach luxury resort

1988: Prince Charles visits Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
Prince Charles returned to Palm Beach County in 1988. He visited Donald Trump’s Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago but stayed for two nights in less grandiose surroundings — a horse ranch west of Lake Worth Beach owned by his polo-playing friends Geoffrey and Jorie Kent. There was a wildlife show in Wellington, a luncheon to benefit Friends of the Masai Mara, and a polo match, which, as always, the prince’s team won.

Laura Lordi is the digital strategy editor for The Palm Beach Post. Contact Lordi at llordi@pbpost.com. Support local journalism. Subscribe today.