Prince Harry Takes America! How His Visit for the Invictus Games Is Far Different From His Infamous Vegas Exploits

“He is truly our Prince Charming,” Michelle Obama said at the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games. (Photo: Getty Images)

Michelle Obama spoke for most American women on Sunday when, at the opening of the Invictus Games, she dubbed Prince Harry “our Prince Charming.” The famously eligible bachelor, 31, is in the good ole U.S.A. for the sporting event he founded for wounded veterans — and he’s easily winning over our citizens one at a time.

Prince Harry and Morgan Freeman share a handshake and a knowing look. (Photo: Getty Images)

Not only does he have FLOTUS’s seal of approval, the redheaded royal got some support from God — well, close — in the earthly form of Morgan Freeman, who voiced the deity in Bruce Almighty. The Academy Award winner, who also starred in the film Invictus, is a games ambassador and looked pretty excited to have face time with Harry.

Yes, ladies, he loves kids. (Photo: Getty Images)

Even the noncelebrity photos from the event are delightful. When Prince William’s little brother isn’t getting up close and personal with the participants, he’s driving the ladies mad by posing in one adorable photo after another with grinning children. That can only be topped by the cute photos of Harry nearly getting kissed by a service dog.

C’mon — could he be any cuter? They even have the same color hair. (Photo: Getty Images)

What can we say? The guy clearly knows how to work a crowd. Even this guy had Harry mania.

This photo, with a Team USA Invictus member, is everything. (Photo: Getty Images)

Having Harry on U.S. soil, however, brings us back to his most memorable visit to the states ever — and, no, not when Princess Diana took him to Disney World in 1993. We’re talking about his lost weekend in Las Vegas in August 2012.

Let’s rewind a bit to when “Captain Wales,” as he was known in his army days, was doing a two-month military training in the western U.S. and made his way to Sin City for some headline-making debauchery. Good-time Harry, who was no stranger to controversy, was photographed partying in a hotel hot tub with no shortage of ladies, but that was only the start. TMZ ran photos of him — in the buff — playing a game of strip billiards in a VIP hotel suite.

Harry’s weekend in Vegas was a royal headline-grabber. (Photo: Splash News)

The details were almost unbelievable. Harry and his entourage met some ladies at a hotel bar and invited them to his $8,000-a-night suite at the Wynn and Encore hotel complex. A game of strip pool resulted in a naked Harry running around the room. In one photo, he was pressed up against a nude woman. The kicker was that his security guards, which you know were all fired, didn’t confiscate the ladies’ cameras, so they snapped photos and later sold them. There were more “crown jewels” headlines than you could count.

While the ladies enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame, Buckingham Palace officials moved to get publication of the photos banned in Britain, arguing to the country’s Press Complaints Commission that they were a breach of the prince’s privacy. Their official statement? Harry was “taking some private time in the U.S.” Private was one word for it.

(Photo: CBS This Morning)

The tabloids made up tales about how the royals would be flying to the U.S. to set Harry straight — we envisioned the queen smacking him around with one of her fascinators — but the buzz surrounding the scandal quickly died down just weeks later when he returned to the front lines in Afghanistan. And in a 2014 interview with Man of the World, he was asked about the Vegas hijinks and he said — rather perfectly, “It was probably a classic case of me being too much Army and not enough prince.”

While promoting the Invictus Games on Monday, he was interviewed on the Today show. After fielding questions about when he’ll have children (“I have no idea,” said George and Charlotte’s uncle. “I don’t even have a girlfriend at the moment”), he was asked about his wilder days. Again, he charmed with his reply.

“To me, it’s a part of growing up,” he smiled. “You’ve got to find your own path. If you slip off, if people don’t tell you you’ve slipped off, then you sure as hell work it out yourself.”

Looks like he has sure as hell worked it out himself.