Before the news about Prince Harry’s newly ordered British risk assessment – which could eventually lead to Harry getting police security in the UK – the British press was still trying to make a meal out of Harry’s Late Show appearance last week. While everyone over there freaks out over every little thing the Sussexes do or say, it’s always fascinating to see which event or which statement or which appearance becomes the latest worrystone, the latest “last straw,” the latest reason why Harry and Meghan should be stripped of their titles. Not to mention, the eagerness with which the royalists claim that King Charles and Prince William are obviously studying every single thing the Sussexes do!
King Charles and Prince William will be ‘horrified’ by Prince Harry’s antics on US TV – not just because it was humiliating but because he cracked ‘dangerous’ jokes at the expense of Donald Trump, it was claimed today. The Duke of Sussex made a surprise appearance on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show on Wednesday in a sketch about him auditioning to be a ‘handsome prince’ in a schmalzy Hallmark Christmas movie.
He was cheered wildly by the audience, who even stood to applaud him when he appeared on stage and declared that Americans are ‘obsessed with royals’. But a stilted gag about America having electing a king in Donald Trump – a dig at the President because of the ‘No Kings’ left-wing protests in October – sparked pantomime boos.
Veteran journalist Phil Dampier, author of Harry and Meghan In Their Own Words. said: ‘The King, Prince William and courtiers will be horrified [by his TV appearance]. Most dangerous of all were his jokes about Trump. The royals can’t start meddling in US politics without dangers and he should have steered clear of the subject’.
Mr Dampier says the TV appearance is a sign Harry ‘doesn’t care anymore’ about royal protocol – so should lose be stripped of his titles like his errant uncle Andrew.
‘Harry is now a showbiz Hollywood celebrity, not a royal. As such he should lose his titles and be removed from the line of succession, then he could do whatever the pleased and no-one could complain’, he said. ‘The idea that he can come back to the UK and carry out some royal duties is now shot to pieces. He is in California for the rest of his life and he’s totally been taken over by his wife’s world’.
“Harry is NOW a showbiz Hollywood celebrity…” Why now and not five years ago, when Harry appeared on James Corden’s show? Or when Harry appeared on The Late Show for the first time in 2023? Harry has been separate from the royal establishment since 2020, and he’s acted like it. “The idea that he can come back to the UK and carry out some royal duties is now shot to pieces…” Whose idea was that? Not Harry’s, not since 2020-21.
Anyway, I don’t doubt that William and Charles were salty about Harry’s Late Show appearance – I’m sure the rota/palace WhatsApp freakout was epic – but not for the reasons Dampier believes. The Times published a column by Stuart Heritage in which he points out that Harry was “actually funny” and suggests that William wouldn’t have been able to handle a similar television appearance:
But still, try to imagine any of his relatives doing this. William, inevitably, would fall back on that weird thing he does on podcasts sometimes, where he tries too hard to look like a normal person; coming on in a flat cap, holding a bitter in one hand and a whippet in the other, dropping his Ts with the studied concentration of someone six hours into learning a new language. Meghan would be so eager to please that she’d hyperventilate. And let’s not even consider letting Andrew back in front of a camera any time soon. Set against this admittedly dismal spectrum, Harry acquitted himself very well.
They all know that Harry is the charismatic prince and William is the rizz-free one. They’ve been quietly admitting as much for years. That’s the real problem with Harry’s Late Show appearance.
Prince Harry and Stephen Colbert dance on the snow
The official Late Show Prince of Christmas!#PrinceHarry #ColbertLateShow pic.twitter.com/bq1UNtnenh
— ChrisBaronSmith (@ChrisBaronSmit1) December 4, 2025
Screencaps courtesy of CBS/The Late Show.
