Diary – British polo day Morocco

Last weekend saw the latest British Polo Day adventure take place in stunning Morocco. The Jnan Amar Polo Club played host to a wealth of famous faces, world class players and celebrities alike. Presented by Land Rover the event was in aid of the Eve Branson Foundation, under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI of Morocco.

With the likes of Sir Richard Branson, Eve Branson, the British Ambassador to Morocco Clive Alderton and the US Ambassador to Morocco Dwight L. Bush Sr in attendance, it was a thoroughly high profile event. Other guests included Ambassador Tibor Toth, Fitriani Hay, Michael Ward, James Demetriades, Minal Bodani, Ron Wahid, The Honorable Tristan Phillimore, Viscount Melville and brothers Jeremy and Tom Jauncey, all of whom came together to raise a record US$205,000 for charity at the evening Gala Dinner.

Travelling with Abercrombie & Kent, the British Polo Day itinerary took in some of the most spectacular sights of Marrakech, including a unique Land Rover Driving Experience through the Atlas Mountains, an official launch party under the trees in the spa gardens of Royal Mansour and – on the eve of British Polo Day – a wonderfully star-studded Medina Party from the rooftop terrace of El Fenn to the hidden courtyards below.

On the day itself, guests arrived in droves at the stunning Jnan Amar Polo Club in a fleet of Range Rovers to watch the highly-entertaining game of Brompton Bicycle Polo, with the British Exiles taking on the Rest of World team come to a 1 all end. After lunch in the quintessential Berber tents overlooking the polo field below, guests then watched the Royal Salute Eve Branson Commonwealth team take on their counterparts, Ritz-Carlton Jnan Amar Rest of the World, it was the home side Ritz-Carlton Jnan Amar Rest of the World that eventually won the game, 5 goals to 3.5.

The evening’s much anticipated Gala Dinner at Dar Soukkar brought British Polo Day Morocco 2015 to a suitably glamorous close, with an elegant courtyard dinner under the stars, followed by a rousing Royal Salute Quaich Experience in which Royal Salute’s Peter Prentice invited all the ‘kilted men of Scotland’ to join him on stage and lead a toast to Eve Branson with a ringing cry of ‘Slange Var’!