New York City was abuzz on Friday as Princess Diana’s youngest made the royal rounds on behalf of his family.

The highly-publicized occasion marked Prince Harry’s first official visit to the States, which has mainly been an ‘all work and no play’ expedition.

Friday’s stops were rather somber, starting with a trip to the World Trade Center where the handsome redhead conversed with relatives of 9/11 victims. Four-year-old Madison Murphy (pictured above), whose mother lost her husband on that fateful day, was right star struck when Harry crouched down to shake her hand. Lucky little lady!

Once the meet and greet concluded he paid his respects to the casualties of the terrorist attacks by fastening a wreath of peonies to a chain-link fence that overlooks the under-construction memorial at Ground Zero. The tear-jerking spectacle was only exceeded by the thoughtful note that Prince Harry had included which read:

“In respectful memory of those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001, and in admiration of the courage shown by the people of this great city on that day.” At the bottom was his name.

Next Harry headed to the fire station - which lost five members - located just across the street, where he chatted with firefighters and even made time to check out their equipment (boys and their toys!).

Later in the day he helped name the British Memorial Garden in Hanover Square in honor of the 67 British civilians that lost their lives during the attacks. The prince happily grabbed a shovel and dug a spot for an “Elizabeth” magnolia tree as part of a NYC proposal to plant 1 million trees in the city.

Friday finished up with a visit to Manhattan’s Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Harry sat down with post-traumatic stress disorder veterans and also those who had lost their limbs in battle.

So what’s next on the agenda you ask? Well this morning he joked around with a ninth-grade class at Harlem’s Children Zone, and this afternoon the prince will have a chance to get a bit of play in by showing off his polo skills in the second annual Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic. The purpose of the match is to raise money for Harry’s charity, Sentebale, which supports orphaned children in Lesotho, Africa.

It appears that the party-hardy playboy who has made headlines with his inappropriate behavior - such as sporting a Nazi armband to a costume party or smoking pot at his cream of the crop academy - is finally growing up. Prince Harry 2.0 … we likes!

~Carolyn French~