Prince Harry officially accepted his controversial Pat Tillman Award for Service at the ESPYs Thursday night, and tried to make amends with Tillman’s mother, who had expressed her disapproval of his selection.
Mary Tillman said earlier that she was “shocked” the award was going to such a “controversial and divisive individual.”
In his acceptance, Harry acknowledged Mary Tillman, who was present in the audience,
“The bond between a mother and son is eternal and transcends even the greatest losses,” he said, appearing to reference the 1997 death of his own mother, Princess Diana, when he was just 12 years old.
Prince Harry was introduced by three veterans and former award winners, including 2017 recipient US Air Force Master Sgt. Israel Del Toro Jr, for his founding of the Invictus Games, which provides athletic and healing opportunities to wounded veterans from around the world.
“I stand here not as Prince Harry, Pat Tillman Award recipient, but rather a voice on behalf of the Invictus Games Foundation and the thousands of veterans and service personnel from over 20 nations who have made the Invictus Games a reality,” he said in his acceptance. “This award belongs to them, not to me.”
The Duke of Sussex attended the star-studded ceremony in Los Angeles with wife Meghan Markle at his side.
Despite the backlash to Prince Harry’s selection — an onslaught that had him consider not accepting the award — ESPN defended the royal, saying his cofounding of the Invictus Games and continued work as its patron “is a cause worth celebrating.
The Tillman award is handed out to individuals who have made significant contributions in the world which echo the legacy of the former NFL player and U.S. Army Ranger Pat Tillman, who enlisted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Tillman, a former safety for the Arizona Cardinals, served in Iraq and then Afghanistan before he was killed by friendly fire in 2004.