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Celebrities take to the trading floor to raise money for charity

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LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 11: Prince Harry , The Duke of Sussex, representing Invictus attends BGC Charity Day at One Churchill Place on September 11, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images for BGC)

Prince Harry became a city boy for a morning yesterday.

Along with movie stars, music artists and sports personalities, the Duke of Sussex turned his hand to trading stocks in aid of charity.

Traders watched on as the Prince hit the phones to seal deals with clients, helping to raise money as part of brokerage firm BGC’s 15th year commemorating the lives lost in the terror attacks of 11 September 2001.

Harry even helped seal a £1bn trade deal, Sky News reported.

Kit Harrington, Cheryl Cole and Damian Lewis also drummed up business on the trading floor in Canary Wharf, where brokers sported traditional brightly-coloured blazers for the charity day.

Over $150m (£122m) has been raised in the 15 years since BGC began its annual charity event, which is commemorated to the 658 employees of the firm who lost their lives in the World Trade Center attacks.

“One morning a year I get up at 5am…I could not be a stockbroker,” comedian Jimmy Carr told City PM

Major of London Sadiq Khan also made an appearance after the opening bell, telling the crowd: “I love the enthusiasm of the brokers”.

The usual lively trading floor atmosphere was still very much in evidence, with teams of traders competing to see who could raise the most money for participating charities, including the Prince’s Trust, Evelina, and Muscular Dystrophy UK.

Actor Helen McCrory, famed for playing matriarch Polly Shelby in Peaky Blinders, also put in an appearance. McCrory conducted some of her deals in character, closing her trades with the show’s catchphrase: “by order of the Peaky f***king Blinders”.

Former boxer Frank Bruno, who was on the trading floor representing eating disorder charity Beat, said he had “made a few bob for the charity” through his deals, and praised the traders’ fundraising efforts.

BGC president Shaun D. Lynn told City A.M. the event was “a wonderful day to reflect and to give something back” as well as to “remember” the 658 staff the company lost in the 11 September attacks.

Main image credit: Getty