哈里王子訪美玩疊羅漢 英勇當底座

Being bottom of the pile may not come naturally to Prince Harry, but he found himself at the base of a human pyramid during a visit to a US Air Force base today.

The third in line to the throne gamely got down on all fours to help form a three-tier pyramid with, of all things, a man dressed as a bird on the top.

After forming the pyramid and posing for pictures, the Prince adopted an American accent to say “Good job!”

On day four of his US tour the Prince, 28, joined cadets at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado for an American Football training session, during which he also watched a display of gymnastics by the cheerleaders for the base’s Falcons gridiron team.

He clapped enthusiastically as he watched female cadets being held aloft on one hand by their male counterparts, and before he knew it he had agreed to have a go at a rather simpler balancing act.

The Prince managed to rope in Britain’s most senior military officer in the US, Major General Buster Howse, military attache to the British Embassy in Washington, who crouched down beside him at the base of the pyramid.

Two cheerleaders crouched on top of them and the mascot, dressed as a Falcon, formed the apex.

Cadet Scott Cronin, 19, said: “I was on top of him and he was solid, a solid base. He did great.”

Earlier the Prince had tried his hand at being a quarterback at the academy’s full-sized indoor gridiron pitch.

The Prince was in his element as he was shown how to throw and catch a football, prompting the man who coached him to say: “I’d like to sign him up.”

And he showed deadly accuracy as he threw the ball 30 yards at photographers, scoring a direct hit on a TV cameraman.

He was shown the ropes by Troy Calhoun, head football coach at the academy and a former quarterback, and within minutes was managing to throw 40 and 50 yard passes for other cadets to catch. He also managed to catch a 50-yard pass on the run.

Mr Calhoun said: “The Prince was terrific. You can tell he has great body co-ordination, he would be a natural football player. He is aggressive, he is strong, he is smart, I would love to sign him up to the Air Force Academy football team if I could.

“Honestly I was a little surprised how good he was. It’s not an easy game to pick up and a football is not a regular ball.”

The Air Force Academy is one of two sites being used to stage the Warrior Games for injured servicemen and women, and the Prince took part in the training session as he was given a tour of some of the base’s impressive facilities.

When the Prince threw the ball at the cameramen, he grinned and told the TV man he hit that he was trying to hit one of the stills photographers. “I was aiming for John!” he joked.

Wearing a Warrior Games polo shirt, blue chinos and brown suede shoes, the Prince was taught to shout “hike” when he wanted the ball delivered to him, then showed surprising accuracy in picking out cadets who ran half the length of the pitch to catch his deliveries.

He was given a Falcons shirt with “Wales” on the back and the number 54 for the year the academy was founded, and was also given a falconry glove and several T-shirts.

“Cheers guys, I need more T-shirts,” said the Army captain. “I’ll overlook the fact that it says Air Force on them.”

He added: “I’ve got all the gear, got no idea.”據英國《每日電訊報》5月12日報道，英國哈里王子在美國空軍學院訪問時童心大發，貴爲王子的他跪在地上大玩疊羅漢。

訪美第四天，28歲的哈里王子參觀了科羅拉多州美國空軍學院的美式橄欖球訓練課。期間他還觀看了學院獵鷹隊拉拉隊的體操表演。當看到女學員被她們的男搭檔單手舉起的時候，他熱烈鼓掌。

哈里還說服了英國駐美國最高軍官、英國駐華盛頓大使館陸軍武官伯斯特•豪斯加入疊羅漢的遊戲，和他一起跪在地上當疊羅漢的“底座”。

兩名拉拉隊員伏在他們的背上，扮作“獵鷹”的人則站在最上面。拍完照片後，哈里還用美國口音說：“幹得好”。

19歲的斯科特•克羅寧說：“我在他上面，他非常結實，基座很穩固。他做的很好。”

此前，哈里王子還曾在學院室內橄欖球館小試身手。

在擲球和接球的時候，哈里王子身手敏捷，表現上乘，展現出精準的球技。

空軍學校橄欖球教練特洛伊•卡爾霍恩向哈里王子演示了一些技巧，幾分鐘之內哈里王子便成功給其他學員擲出40或50碼的傳球。他還在奔跑中接到了一個距離50碼的傳球。

卡爾霍恩說：“哈里王子棒極了。看得出來，他身體協調能力非常好，他會是個天生的橄欖球運動員。他敢打敢拼，強壯聰明，如果可以的話，我很樂意和他簽約，加入到空軍學院橄欖球隊。”

“老實說，他表現這麼優秀，我有點吃驚。這不是輕易能學會的，橄欖球可不是普通的球。”

當哈里擲球擊中攝影師時，他笑着對這位攝影師說，自己想打的是劇照攝像師。他開玩笑道：“其實我瞄準的是約翰。”

哈里王子穿着polo衫，藍色卡其褲和棕色鞋，他被告知想接球的時候要大喊“hike”，接着，他十分準確地挑選跑過半場的隊員完成了傳球。

他獲贈一件獵鷹隊T恤，背上寫有“威爾士”和阿拉伯數字“54”，因爲美國空軍學院成立於1954年，此外，還有一雙“獵鷹”手套和幾件T恤。

“我還需要更多的T恤，雖然上面印有‘Air Force’，不過我不會介意。”