Prince Harry has sent an NYC tattoo artist a personal letter in which he thanked him for his “handling of the press” following his visit to the ink parlor last year.
The Duke of Sussex, 40, was spotted visiting East Side Ink — a high-end custom shop frequented by A-listers — in September 2024.
It later emerged that while Harry didn’t get any permanent artwork on his body during the brief visit, he did recruit Jelly Roll to headline the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025.
Now, more than 9 months since the “Spare” author’s visit, tattoo artist and parlor owner Joshua Lord has shared the sweet letter he had received from Harry’s office in a post on Instagram.
“Dear Josh, thank you so much for your generosity in offering us your space at East Side Ink for filming,” the duke’s letter began.
“It was incredibly kind, and I really enjoyed meeting you and learning more about the history of your shop.”
In the letter, which was signed by the Invictus Games founder and dated October 17, 2024, Harry also praised Lord for his “skillful dodging” of questions from the media.
“I also appreciated your artful handling of press questions regarding my visit, it means a lot and I was rather impressed by your skillful dodging! Well done.”
“They’ll be in for a shock when they see the final cut,” Harry continued. “Grateful for your partnership and support in service of the Invictus community.”
The letter also included a personal invitation from Harry to the 2025 Invictus Games, which were held in February.
“If you’d like to come to Vancouver in February, we’d love to have you! All the best, Harry,” it concluded.
In addition to a snap of the letter, Lord shared never-before-seen snaps of the duke during his visit to the tattoo parlor.
Several images showed the exiled royal with rapper Jelly Roll, which Lord captioned, “Lord, Prince and Jelly.”
“ALSO my Royal ‘thank you’ letter naming me as the Skilful Dodger, which is a pretty good nickname, really,” he added, aptly soundtracking the post to “Royals” by singer Lorde.
The tattooist did, however, make a slight blunder as he tagged the now-defunct @sussexroyal Instagram account, which Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, were forced to give up after quitting royal life in 2020.
In September 2024, Harry and his security team were seen pulling up to the tattoo shop on the Lower East Side.
Management for East Side Ink — where stars like Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson have gotten ink — was tight-lipped about the duke’s visit at the time.
“I can’t confirm or deny anything,” shop owner Josh Lord told The Post. “We treat all our customers as if they were royal, because to us they are. We always honor their privacy.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
