Meghan Markle has become a “huge” polo fan, thanks to her relationship with Prince Harry.
The couple produced the Netflix series Polo, which premiered on Tuesday, December 10. While they only had a brief appearance on the show, Harry and Meghan worked tirelessly with showrunner Miloš Balać behind the scenes.
“They were wonderful to work with,” Balać told Us Weekly exclusively about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. “They were really great collaborative partners. It was just easy to constantly have conversations with them about what we’re showing and how we’re showing it.”
Balać explained that Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, came into the show with the intention to “grow the world of polo” by appealing to new fans.
“Obviously, Prince Harry has grown up in the world of polo, it’s one of his greatest passions. He was really a driving force in trying to tell these stories,” Balać continued. “Meghan, to her credit, is also a huge fan. Harry brought her into that world, and on her own has just really is so tuned in and knows what’s going on.”
The showrunner said that their shared goal was to change people’s perspective on the sport.
“You think it’s the pretty women, big hats — which it is on a Sunday,” Balać said of polo. “The rest of the week it’s this super down-to-earth, in its own way, world where people come together to play an incredible sport. Amazingly dangerous, amazingly fast, amazingly exciting, and do it with their families in tow.”
The series follows the story of polo players Adolfo Cambiaso, Poroto Cambiaso, Louis Devaleix, Timmy Dutta and Keko Magrini. Harry’s close friend and polo legend Nacho Figueras is also prominently featured in the series.
“He was such a wonderful collaborator and deserves a lot of credit for all of his help,” Balać said of Figueras, noting that the athlete really “took me under his wing” in the polo world.
Balać told Us that Polo has something for everyone — regardless of how invested you are in athletic or equine things.
“If you don’t care about horses, if you don’t care about sports, if you don’t care about polo, you’ll find something else to care about,” he said. “You’ll care about an inter-family story — whether it’s husband and wife dealing with a pregnancy and the stresses and joys that that brings, whether it’s father and son dealing with the stresses and joys that that sort of relationship can bring. There’s a lot that people can latch onto that really has nothing to do with whether or not you care about horses or sports.”
Polo is now streaming on Netflix.