The Queen: Nephew of King Charles’ polo coach Hayden Burbank has Morris Jones party after AFL breach

A bar owner jailed for sneaking through the Western Australian border at the height of the Covid pandemic is related to King Charles III’s polo instructor.

Border breaker Hayden Burbank, 50, is the cousin of Sinclair Hill, regarded as one of Australia’s greatest ever polo players and was inducted into the Australian Polo Hall of Fame in 2013.

Mr Hill began coaching King Charles at Windsor Castle in what would become his much-loved sport and the pair quickly became friends.

King Charles visited Mr Hill at his Moree, in northern NSW, in 1981 and invited him and his wife Wendy Hill to his wedding to Princess Diana later that year.

Diana’s former housemate at Earl’s Court, Anne Boulton, who she lived with when she became engaged to the then Prince Charles, went on to marry Mr Hill’s son, Noel.

Noel and Anne would later own Tooloombilla Station in the Queensland outback, where Prince Harry worked as a jackaroo for three months during his gap year in Australia in 2003.

Mr Burbank’s uncle Sinclair Hill taught King Charles to play polo (Photo: Charles rests after playing Polo for ‘Les Daibles Bleus’ on June 1, 1983 at Guards Polo Club, Smiths Lawn in Windsor, Berkshire)

Princess Diana’s (right) former housemate Anne Bolton (center) later married Mr Hill’s son, Noel

Mr Burbank, whose mother is Wendy Hill’s sister, owns trendy Morris Jones restaurant and bar in Windsor, Melbourne.

As well as continuing his family’s love for polo, Mr Burbank is also a diehard AFL fan and it was this passion that landed him in hot water in September 2021.

He and financial planner mate Mark Babbage, 40, forged false documents and illegally sneaked into WA, which was under a strict hard limit at the time due to Covid.

The Melbourne Demons fans crossed the border via the Northern Territory, which at the time had an open border with WA, to watch their team play against the Western Bulldogs in the Grand Final.

Burbank shared a video of the pair on social media as he gleefully sang the club anthem and had a beer in the club’s locker room as the players celebrated after their 140-66 win at Optus Stadium.

Club officials and the player’s wives and girlfriends who were unable to travel to Perth were furious that Mr Burbank and Mr Babbage were able to break the alleged Covid bubble of both the team and WA.

They were each charged with three counts of providing false information to border authorities and spent three months in a WA prison.

Burbank recently talked about his jail time to AFL personality Sam Newman on his podcast “You Cannot be Serious.”

“There were a few sketchy moments. You walked on eggshells and it was basically a game of Survivor and you had to form loyalties,” he told Newman.

“It was Survivor’s biggest game of all time, that’s how I would describe it.”

Mr Burbank (left) celebrating the Melbourne Demons 2021 AFL Grand Final wins the locker rooms

But Burbank seems to be seeing the brighter side of his incarceration, sending invitations to an upcoming party that hint at his “you know what little interstate adventure.”

The ’10 plus 1′ birthday party for his bar Morris Jones bar is scheduled for September 29 and invitations are already going out to guests.

“Hayden Burbank would like to invite you to join us in celebrating a very special 10-year milestone at Morris Jones… which we were unfortunately unable to celebrate last year due to the lockdown,” reads the invitation.

“So this year we’re going all out and celebrating 10+1 years.

“It’s also going to be our first big shindig at Morris Jones since you know what a little interstate adventure is, so it promises to be a big one.”

His bar Morris Jones (pictured) has a birthday party for 10 years plus one in September after being prevented from doing so due to lockdowns last year

But it seems that even more legal problems could put a damper on the case.

Victoria Police on Wednesday arrested Mr Burbank after officers raided the Chapel St site and his $4 million luxury Toorak mansion.

“Police have arrested a 50-year-old Toorak man and seized prescription drugs. The man was released pending further investigation,” the Victoria Police said in a statement.

It is clear that no charges were filed on Sunday.