Prince Harry should have known that trousering another military award in the US would cause a backlash and his decision to take it will make it increasingly difficult for him to pick up similar gongs in the future, experts told MailOnline today.

The Duke of Sussex is said to be ‘stunned’ by the anger over his Pat Tillman Award for Service – including from Mr Tillman’s own mother – but his astonishment shows he is now living in ‘different world’, one critic has claimed.

Harry and Meghan’s biographer Tom Bower has said the vitriol over handing the exiled British royal the gong shows there is increasing ‘antagonism’ towards the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan across the Atlantic.

And veteran royal expert Phil Dampier said: ‘It’s ironic that the thing which really kept Prince Harry’s feet on the ground and in touch with reality was his military service. The fact he is stunned by that shows how remote and out of touch he has become’.

Harry, 39, is due to be honoured with the Pat Tillman Award for Service for his Invictus Games work at the glitzy ESPY Awards in Los Angeles on July 11. The 2024 ESPYS will be hosted by Serena Williams – a close friend of Meghan Markle.

The Duke is reportedly ‘stunned’ by the backlash and a source claimed the fallout has been a ‘bitter pill to swallow’. But Pat’s mother Mary Tillman has said that she was never consulted and someone with less ‘privilege’ should have got it, with some claiming her intervention should force Harry to refuse it.

Mr Bower said the backlash over the Pat Tillman Award is yet more proof that the Sussexes are losing the PR battle in the US – at a time when the couple are desperately trying to relaunch their personal brand in America.

The backlash will make it more difficult for Harry’s team to get awards in the future’, he said.

‘Prince Harry inhabits a gilded bubble seemingly unaware about the deep antagonism he and his wife have created. It’s become normal for his staff to lobby for important awards to shore up his reputation’.

Tillman, an American football star who gave up a £3million contract to enlist in the US Army after 9/11, had his life tragically cut short at the age of 27 when he was killed in friendly fire while serving in Afghanistan 20 years ago.

But Pat’s mother Mary has said that she was never consulted and someone with less ‘privilege’ should have got it.

Royal expert Phil Dampier told MailOnline: ‘During his years in the army, his time in Afghanistan and setting up the Invictus Games he found the comradeship and sense of purpose which meant he could relate to his friends and fellow servicemen on their level.

‘He was just another soldier and not a Prince.

‘Unfortunately in the last five or six years he has entered a different world, a false world of showbiz premieres, easy money and distorted media interviews and he has lost his common touch.

‘He should have realised, or certainly his PR people should have realised, that this award would look out of place and annoy some veterans and their families, and there would be a backlash.

He needs to learn from this experience and take stock and think much deeper in future about what baubles and prizes he accepts.

‘It’s easy to blame Meghan for keeping him away from his old friends and contacts but ultimately it’s down to him.

‘He needs to earn them, not just have them served up so that he can move in certain circles and feel good about himself’.

ESPN, home of the NFL, has defended giving Harry the award, but one of the network’s leading analysts, Pat McAfee said his own network was ‘trying to p**s people off’ for honouring the Duke of Sussex.

‘It’s going to Prince Harry,’ McAfee said on his podcast. ‘Who I don’t even think is a Prince anymore, right? He said don’t call me that? See, why does the ESPYs do this s**t?

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