LivingPolo: news &

Although the ancient sport of polo began in Persia and China many centuries ago, the British reinvented the modern game in the nineteenth century. Sir Winston Churchill, one of the greatest proponents of the game, once famously said “a polo handicap is a passport to the world” and polo is still thriving everywhere it is played, from Argentina to New Zealand. British Polo Day carries on the tradition of the British playing polo against friends in a host of different countries. Polo still flourishes among Britain’s oldest institutions, where old rivalries often produce the most fiercely fought matches, be it Eton v Harrow, Oxford v Cambridge or the British Cavalry v Guards. These institutions have produced some of Britain’s finest polo players over the years and British Polo Day provides a platform for these players to continue to play globally. The first British Polo Day was held in the Middle East in 2009 and saw players from all these institutions battling it out. In July 2011, British Polo Day came “home” to Britain in an exclusive event held at Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber’s beautiful country estate in Berkshire when Prince Harry (Eton and Household Cavalry) took on Prince Rashid of Jordan (Harrow, Cambridge and Light Dragoons). The day epitomized everything that British Polo Day was about: friends from all over the world meeting up in a picturesque setting, playing the sport as it had always been played, truly the “Game of Kings”. Ralph Lauren decades back appreciated that one simple 4 letter word “POLO” encapsulated a whole way of living, an aspirational lifestyle of the jet-set, sporty, smart and stylish that appealed to everyone. From royalty to rap artists, executives to entrepreneurs, millionaires to models, British Polo Days host an eclectic mix of guests of all nationalities who come to the day for a variety of different reasons but who all leave having made new friends in luxurious surroundings against a backdrop of exhilarating sport. British Polo Day also works with the top British Brands to export a slice of Britain and give guests the full British luxury experience. British Polo Day works with Coutts private bank, Land Rover, Bentley, Barbour, Hackett, Hunter, Ettinger, the Intercontinental Park Lane and other well known British Brands. A British Polo Day therefore encapsulates the history, heritage and tradition of the game of polo. It combines the traditions of Wimbledon, the exhilaration of Royal Ascot and the all day-experience of Lords with the world’s oldest sport in a quintessentially British day.