PRINCE HARRY has missed the wedding of his “real best man” – and been spotted 5,000 miles away instead.
The Duke of Sussex was seen in Santa Barbara, California during his polo teammate Jack Mann’s wedding in Stutton, Suffolk.
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Harry appeared in a “band of brothers” photo with Mann, 40, and other close friends on the night of his own wedding to Meghan Markle in 2018.
The pair met at Sandhurst, where both trained to become officers in the Blues and Royals.
They later served together on tour in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The polo star was said by royal watchers to be Harry’s “real” best man, rather than his brother Prince William, during his wedding to Meghan.
And Mann celebrated his own big day this year, exchanging vows with Isabella Clark, an osteopath, at St Peter’s Church in Stutton.
Their guests included Princess Charlotte’s godfather Thomas van Straubenzee and his wife Lucy, an assistant head at Charlotte and Prince George’s former school Thomas’s.
But notably, Prince Harry did not join his old chums.
It is not known how close Harry and Mann still are – with the prince claiming in his memoir Spare that he had fallen out with some old friends over his attacks on the Royal Family.
Instead, Harry was seen in Santa Barbara with his wife Meghan on Friday.
The couple were visiting a complex in California which included a karate studio and hair salon, the Daily Mail reported.
It’s a far cry from his life in the UK – and his group of pals.
Mann is the son of former SAS officer and self-described mercenary Simon Mann, who was jailed after trying to overthrow the president of Equatorial Guinea in the 2004 “Wonga Coup”.
Simon spent over five years in prisons in Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea after the coup was foiled.
He also became a general during the Angolan civil war, visiting Moscow to buy thermobaric bombs from a former KGB officer.
His son Jack, the founder of private security firm Alma Risk, also made headlines when officials in Malta stopped him from travelling to Libya for a mission.
Jack previously worked as “country manager” in Libya for Aegis Defence Services.
His wedding to Isabella was held near her family’s 17th-century seat, with Simon Mann leading a toast.
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