[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-post-title” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”Black Han Sans|700||on|||||” header_text_align=”center” header_font_size=”46px” header_letter_spacing=”4px” custom_margin=”25px||5px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-name” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Black Han Sans|||on|||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_4_font=”|||on|||||” header_4_text_align=”center” text_orientation=”center” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
Words by Polly Dunbar<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/04\/IMG_0799.jpg” alt=”Jennifer Aniston” title_text=”IMG_0799″ force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n The sun was beaming at the Royal Salute Polo Challenge in Palm Beach earlier this month as the Duchess of Sussex threw her arms around Delfina Blaquier, the woman dubbed polo\u2019s First Lady. As Prince Harry filmed scenes for his upcoming Netflix show about the high-octane world of the elite sport, Meghan and Delfina took a stroll with Delfina\u2019s eight-year-old daughter Alba, who held on tightly to Meghan\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n The message was clear: Delfina is now firmly ensconced inMeghan\u2019s inner circle. The wife of Ignatio \u2018Nacho\u2019 Figueras, the most famous polo player in the world (and the face of Ralph Lauren Black Label), she first bonded with the Duchess over their shared life as \u2018P Wives\u2019, Meghan\u2019s name for the women cheering on their polo-obsessed husbands during matches.<\/p>\n Harry has played the Sport of Kings, as it\u2019s known, from his earliest years, and since he and Meghan moved to Southern California in 2020, the couple have immersed themselves in the Santa Barbara polo scene. Harry plays in the team Los Padres alongside Nacho, his close friend for 15 years, and trains at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club, close to the home he and Meghan share in Montecito.<\/p>\n The US\u2019s pre-eminent club, located in the \u2018American Riviera\u2019 (to which Meghan\u2019s lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard gives a nod), it is described by its general manager David Sigman as \u2018the mecca of polo\u2019 in July and August, when enthusiasts flock there from all over the world. Celebrities including Sylvester Stallone and Rob Lowe are regulars, and Harry\u2019s involvement has only increased its cache.<\/p>\n \u2018It did wonders for the Polo Club because spectator numbers soared \u2013 merely to see His Royal Highness going through the paces with Nacho,\u2019 according to Richard Mineards, who is a society columnist for the Montecito Journal and mischievously claims that Harry is \u2018far better than William\u2019 at the sport. \u2018The club is an extraordinary mix of millionaires, billionaires, celebrities and now the Royal family,\u2019 he adds.<\/p>\n Harry also plays alongside Nacho in charity matches including the annual Sentebale ISPS Handa Polo Cup, which fundraises for his Lesotho-based organisation. As a result, over the past four years, Meghan\u2019s spent plenty of time standing on the sidelines with the other P Wives. It\u2019s unsurprising, then, that she has become a key power player in her own right in the rarefied world of polo, the sport which Jilly Cooper\u2019s racy 1991 bestseller of the same name made synonymous with high society glamour.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”custom-quote” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”Libre Bodoni|||on|||||” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#333333″ header_2_font_size=”40px” header_2_line_height=”1.2em” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Delfina is its undisputed queen. Beautiful, elegant and the daughter of formidable female Argentine racing driver Delfina Frers and Eduardo Blaquier, scion of one of Argentina\u2019s wealthiest families, the 43-year-old once competed internationally as a high jumper before becoming a model and marrying Nacho in 2005. The couple have four children (their eldest, Hilario, is also a professional polo player), a joint fragrance line – one is called Windsor, a reference to Nacho\u2019s \u2018brotherhood of kindred spirits\u2019 with Harry – and a series of very Cooper-esque bonkbusters entitled The Polo Season.<\/p>\n Delfina is exactly the type of friend Meghan will have hoped for when she fled Britain, where she was deeply unhappy: glamorous, impeccably-connected and, above all, supportive.<\/p>\n The pair share much in common, with Delfina describing heron social media as a \u2018sister\u2019. A talented photographer, her Instagram is full of perfectly-curated images of her homes\u2019 stunning, light-filled interiors and tips about organic eating and intermittent fasting. She\u2019s passionate about growing her own vegetables and herbs and, just like Meghan, has chickens wandering free range around her garden. She has a fashion and lifestyle blog about her family\u2019s travels, called We Are Figueras, with echoes of Meghan\u2019s blog The Tig. A keen polo player herself, Delfina is also the co-founder of a clothing line, Acheval Pampa, described as \u2018equestrian chic\u2019.<\/p>\n She and Nacho were guests at Harry and Meghan\u2019s wedding in 2018, and the following year, he appeared on Ellen\u2019s show to defend Meghan, describing her as \u2018incredible\u2019 and revealing how she \u2018gave up everything for the man she loves\u2019. In Meghan and Harry\u2019s Netflix documentary, he describes how Harry confided in him after his first date with Meghan, saying, \u2018He looked at us and said, \u201cGuys, I met a girl, we\u2019ve just met but I think this might be the one.\u201d\u2019 Early on in Harry and Meghan\u2019s relationship, the two couples shared a double date together.<\/p>\n Delfina\u2019s friendship with the Duchess has gone from strength to strength since, with Delfina posting a tribute to her friend on Instagram following the 2022 polo season in which she rhapsodised about her \u2018big\u2019, \u2018beautiful\u2019 heart and stated, \u2018I love you my darling\u2019. She was one of the first recipients of the first product made by American Riviera Orchard, a jar of strawberry jam, and took to social media to announce she loved it.<\/p>\n The Figueras family split their time between Buenos Aires and the US, and have a home in Wellington, Florida, where the US Open Polo Championships takes place \u2013 and where Harry\u2019s documentary is set. Since it was announced, there has been speculation over exactly what its promise to \u2018pull the curtain back\u2019 on polo will reveal, given that since Cooper\u2019s novels, the sport has been more famous for the racy antics of its players than for anything that happens on the pitch.<\/p>\n Journalist Caroline Graham wrote of visiting the Wellington Club a few years ago, only to witness a \u2018Bacchanalian\u2019 scene in which the bodies of players and their female fans \u2018intertwined everywhere\u2019.<\/p>\n Montecito socialite Kiki Astor, who spends Sundays during polo season at the Santa Barbara club \u2013 Harry\u2019s \u201chome\u201d one \u2013 says: \u2018Polo oozes sex. All that leather and sweat. It\u2019s like catnip to women, particularly bored married ones. In Santa Barbara we joke about polo players being \u201centertainment for the wives\u201d.\u2019<\/p>\n Harry\u2019s documentary is highly unlikely to delve into this side of the sport, promising instead to focus on the \u2018grit and passion\u2019 of its players. What\u2019s guaranteed is that it will offer an insight into a privileged world in which both Harry and Meghan feel very comfortable.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#111111″ divider_position=”center” divider_weight=”2px” module_class=”custom-divider” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text module_class=”credit-texts” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|||on|||||” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n Photo: <\/b>Getty<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Celebrities including Sylvester Stallone and Rob Lowe are regulars, and Harry\u2019s involvement has only increased its cache.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"kschwarz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2469"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2475,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469\/revisions\/2475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/grazia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Delfina is exactly the type of friend Meghan will have hoped for when she fled Britain<\/h2>\n