The Miami Herald
March 11, 1999
 
 
Charles, in Argentina, plays polo with Anglos

             By KEVIN GRAY
             Associated Press

             HURLINGHAM, Argentina -- Prince Charles played polo in Argentina on
             Wednesday, relaxing midway through a three-day visit in which he struck a tone of
             reconciliation with Britain's former wartime adversary.

             The Prince of Wales also toured the local bank branch of Lloyd's of London,
             visited a steel factory and planned an evening reception with descendants of
             English immigrants after polo at the Hurlingham Club.

             ``I've always wanted to go to a polo match. They say it's the sport of kings. This
             time I'm lucky enough to see a prince,'' exclaimed Wouter Berkhout, 24, a visitor
             from the Netherlands.

             The prince, wearing white riding pants and a green jersey with red trim, saddled up
             for five periods of polo in what was dubbed the Prince of Wales Cup. The
             competition included local players.

             The relaxed outing stood in contrast to a protest Tuesday, when an angry throng
             tried to march on a Buenos Aires hotel where Charles dined with President Carlos
             Menem and danced the tango with Menem's 28-year-old daughter, Zulema.

             Demonstrators clashed with riot police, who responded with tear gas. Six people
             were reported injured and police made 58 arrests.

             The outburst tarnished the visit of reconciliation by the Prince of Wales, the most
             senior member of British royalty to visit Argentina since the 1982 war over the
             Falkland Islands, known in Argentina as Las Malvinas.

             The prince's visit ends today, when he heads to Uruguay before traveling to the
             Falklands.

             Menem's visit to London was the first by an Argentine president to Britain since
             the 1982 battle for the Falklands, the remote British-occupied islands in the South
             Atlantic that Argentina has claimed since the early 19th Century.

             At the outset of his trip, the prince on Tuesday laid a wreath before a Buenos
             Aires memorial honoring the 750 Argentines who died in the Falklands War.
 

 

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