Prince Harry 'couldn’t wait' to share this moment with Prince George - now it's slipped by without him
Prince George's 13th birthday video showed him enjoying a hobby that the Duke of Sussex had looked forward to teaching him
There's a lot Prince Harry has missed out on since he moved to the US and that includes spending a lot of time in-person with Prince George, Charlotte and Louis. He was so excited to become an uncle when George was born in 2013 and now he's a teenager and Harry has missed out on an experience he used to look forward to.
In Spare the Duke of Sussex recalled everything he wanted to teach his "beautiful" firstborn nephew. He explained, "I couldn't wait to teach him about rugby and Rorke's Drift, flying and corridor cricket - and maybe give him a few pointers about how to survive life in the fishbowl."
So many of these things have already happened without him, including teaching George cricket. The 13-year-old loves the sport and we just got a glimpse of him playing it on the beach in his 2026 birthday video - clearly not requiring any guidance from his Uncle Harry.
Prince George expertly hit the ball before running across the sand and it looks like he'd been playing with Louis, as his birthday video from April showed the same set-up and was also filmed on the Waleses' Easter holiday in Cornwall. The experience of tutoring his nephews in cricket has sadly passed Harry by and he'll have no luck teaching George rugby either.
He's attended several matches with his parents and plays it himself at school, as well as practising at home. George sounds pretty formidable at it too, with the Princess of Wales admitting in January, "I do *not* want to get tackled by him!"
A lot of the Duke of Sussex's other early hopes for unclehood have been dashed since his move across the pond.
He wrote of how he "looked forward to popping in all the time" when he was living at Nottingham Cottage and the Wales family were at Kensington Palace.
Harry wanted to arrive "holding a bottle of wine and an armful of kiddie presents" before "dropping to the floor and wrestling with little George". He might have got to do this sometimes when he was still based in the UK but it just isn't possible anymore.
Trying to arrange scheduled visits also seems to be a challenge amid the ongoing rift between Prince Harry and Prince William. Although the Sussexes recently met with the King and Queen at Highgrove and are thought to have gone to Princess Diana's childhood home, there's been no suggestion that the brothers and their families reunited at any point during the UK visit.
Even though he hasn't had the kinds of experiences with his uncle that Harry had planned, the young royal has an uncle-figure in Mike Tindall too. Mike and Zara Tindall (who is also George's godmother) aren't working royals so they offer a different perspective on things.
Body language expert Judi James has previously told The Sun's Fabulous magazine that she thinks the retired rugby star has "more than filled" a "Harry-shaped gap" in George's life.
"Mike is the fun uncle everyone needs, but in the case of Prince George, whose destiny is all about duty and responsible behaviour, Mike's presence in his life is completely invaluable," Judi claimed.
