Prince Harry and James Corden's matching ‘normcore’ polo shirts are the backbone of a blue-blood wardrobe

Unlike his father Prince Charles, and to a certain degree his brother Prince Willliam, the youngest of the Windsor trio takes a deliberately downplayed approach to his clothes. Perhaps it’s the erstwhile rapscallion image, or perhaps it's down to his days in the military, but his approach to dressing has always been more casual, muted and nondescript - all the better to thwart the British press in their efforts to write about him.

In his latest media outing, via the medium of hightailing around LA on an open-topped bus with James Corden, the prince falls back on one item that’s stood the test of time: his trusty polo shirt.

He might be living amongst the A-list and focusing on some very on-brand-for-California activism, but his affinity for polo shirts shows he’s a British blue blood at heart. Because the polo shirt is as much part of British aristocratic life as stiff upper lips, Norland nannies and chocolate labs.

Slim fit polo shirt, £89, Ralph Lauren

Yes, towards the 1990s it was adopted by the football hooligan brigade, but at heart the polo shirt has always acted as a compromise for those who can’t quite bear the casualness of a T-shirt. That particular item is an undergarment to be worn beneath a Turnbull & Asser shirt, or at the most something you wear during 6am runs in the drizzle at Gordonstoun.

A polo shirt, on the other hand, is the posh equivalent. Crucially, it’s collared; that’s the crux of its genetic make-up, because it apes the shirt in terms of formality, but in breezy cotton-pique fabric. It’s short-sleeved but smart, sporty but not for grunt work - a jolly fine accompaniment to a spot of cricket, country pub pints or catch-ups with the groundsman.

The modern iteration may have been created by a Frenchman - tennis champion René Lacoste debuted his version in 1933 as a casual, more fluid option for Centre Court - but early versions come from the lightweight garments adopted by British polo playing ex-pats in India in the 19th century, during the days of the Raj.

Thanks to that association with the British upper classes, it became synonymous with polite, gentile pursuits - going on to become the uniform of WASPs and Ivy League fraternities. Ralph Lauren mined this wellspring for his collegiate-inspired Polo brand, applying a stitched polo player to the chest and creating an icon of men’s style.

It’s indicative that Corden and Prince Harry (sorry, ‘Haz’ according to wife Meghan, who appears during the clip via video call) mirror each other exactly in what they’re wearing: shapeless blue jeans and black polo shirts.

The clothing habits of Los Angeles are built on a steadfast but extremely considered casualisation; it’s jeans and T-shirts but from the right brands, with the right details. Entire industries of denim connoisseurs exist in Los Angeles, likewise T-shirt labels such as James Perse, which creates handmade, exceptionally stitched T-shirts.

So it’s rather charming to see the pair dressed as if they were off for a pint down the local village green, rather than bikram and kombucha catch-ups in Calabasas.

The polo shirt has served Harry well, after all. His mother Princess Diana would dress him in fresh white version from Lacoste as a little boy, and off the polo field it’s been a constant part of his dress-down approach, from royal tours in Africa - he favoured a khaki version in 2019’s Harry & Meghan: An African Journey - to his new life in glossy LaLa land.

He might be stepping back from The Firm, but a certain upper crust Britishness is still very much part of his wardrobe.

Sign up for the Telegraph Luxury newsletter for your weekly dose of exquisite taste and expert opinion.