Some interesting stuff has happened following Prince Harry’s surprise trip to Ukraine last week. Harry was in London for several days – reportedly Sunday (4/6) through Wednesday (4/9) to attend his two-day royal-protection hearing. After that, the British press and Buckingham Palace lost his trail and they likely assumed that he had flown back to California. Then, we learned that Harry had actually visited Ukraine, at the invitation of the Superhumans Center (a cutting-edge rehab facility). The Ukrainian government also welcomed Harry, providing him with security befitting a visiting VIP. He had meetings with Ukrainian officials and he received some lovely and meaningful gifts. The British media was FURIOUS and Buckingham Palace rushed to say that Harry made the trip without their knowledge. In the wake of the trip, Kensington Palace has been briefing the Daily Beast about William’s fury over Ukrainian officials referring to Harry and Meghan as “Your Royal Highness” and William’s plans to yank the Sussexes’ HRH-styles. We all knew what that was about, but the Mail finally spelled it out: William is sick with jealousy that HE isn’t allowed to go to Ukraine!
Prince Harry’s surprise arrival in Ukraine has reportedly frustrated his elder brother William and left him fuming at Palace officials who denied him a similar trip. The Duke of Sussex met dozens of wounded soldiers in the Ukrainian city of Lviv last Thursday. That saw Harry facing accusations of hypocrisy after braving the fraught conditions, having previously claimed he and his family could not be safe in the UK without taxpayer-funded police bodyguards. And security concerns are reported to have stymied William’s hopes of making his own visit to Ukraine as it fends against the three-year Russian invasion.
The Prince of Wales is said to have voiced his frustration to Kensington Palace staff who urged him against arriving in the war-torn nation. William did pay a visit last month to Estonia, one of Ukraine’s neighbours, where he donned combat gear and a beret when greeting troops at a Nato base.
But the Mail reported today how Palace sources pointed out William’s ‘long-hoped’ keenness to visit Ukraine – and that he was ‘rankled’ by Harry’s appearance there. William, meanwhile, last week travelled to France’s capital to watch his football club Aston Villa play Paris St Germain in the Champions League.
Security officials are said to have ‘firmly rejected’ the prospect of William visiting Ukraine, which has been suffering since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
A royal aide said the prince was delighted to be ‘getting his hands dirty’ [during William’s trip to Estonia], adding the visit was ‘about the Prince of Wales showing his support to Estonia as it manages its proximity to Russia while hosting NATO troops and welcoming Ukrainian refuges’. But it has been reported that advice towards him was that it would be ‘too dangerous’ for William to go to Ukraine.
Harry left the UK secretly, and without informing Buckingham Palace, early last Thursday and was understood to have landed at an unnamed airport in Poland. He was given a police escort to and from the Polish border and former Ukrainian military personnel accompanied him to the Superhumans rehabilitation centre in Lviv where he met adults and children who have been injured since war broke out in 2022. Harry is now the most senior royal to visit Ukraine but is not believed to have informed Buckingham Palace in advance of his trip.
This is how they’re trying (and failing) to position the brothers: Harry could visit Ukraine because he’s not important and he’s a hypocrite for wanting security, whereas William is too important to travel to a warzone and his security would have been an issue, because he’s so important! Nevermind that every other briefing from Kensington Palace is about how William is his “own man” and “doing things his way” and “you can’t dictate to William!” Then when it comes time to man up and visit a warzone, suddenly William dutifully listens to all of his gold-standard advisors, who confirm that, yes sir, you’re way too important to ever visit Ukraine!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Superhumans Center’s IG, Meghan’s IG.
