April 27, 2026

Prince Harry defends Ukraine visit as criticism mounts over comments and travel

Show Notes
Transcript

Prince Harry has defended his recent visit to Ukraine, saying he will “always be part of the Royal Family” while continuing to speak out independently on global issues.

Speaking to ITV’s Royal Editor Chris Ship, Harry said: “I am here working doing the things that I was born to do, and I enjoy doing it,” adding that people should feel empowered “to speak truth to power.”
The remarks come as critics question both the tone and timing of his comments. Writing in the Express, columnist Chris Riches argued that Harry’s call for “American leadership” could risk provoking Donald Trump, suggesting such interventions may be diplomatically counterproductive. In the Independent, Samuel Fishwick questioned the purpose of the visit, describing it as part of a pattern in which Harry inserts himself into major global events while insisting he is not acting in an official capacity.

Separately, Harry has faced scrutiny over his environmental messaging after reports he logged nearly 40,000 miles of air travel in two months. The travel included trips to Jordan, Australia, and Eastern Europe, drawing attention given his work with sustainable travel initiative Travalyst.
Meanwhile, Meghan Markle’s lifestyle brand has drawn mixed reaction around its Mother’s Day products. Tennis star Serena Williams shared a gift package from the brand, praising its presentation, while online critics questioned the pricing of chocolates and candles. The brand has also quietly updated product descriptions to remove references to the royal titles of Archie and Lilibet.

Get episodes of Palace Intrigue by becommming a paid subscriber on Apple Podcasts. Click the button that says uninterrupted listening. Just $5 a month, and that includes many ofther shows on the Caloroga Shark network.

A new season of King William is available now.

Our royal newsletter written by Deep Crown is available for free.

Royal Books:

Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors by Tom Bower

William and Catherine: The Monarchy's New Era: The Inside Story

The Royal Insider: My Life with the Queen, the King and Princess Diana

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:11.519
Ah calorogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue.

2
00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:14.359
I am your host, Mark Francis. In The Express, Chris

3
00:00:14.439 --> 00:00:18.960
Riches was critical of Harry's Ukraine appearances. Riches rites, a

4
00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:23.440
true diplomat knows never to humiliate or enrage a capricious leader.

5
00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:27.160
You gently coax, maybe flatter, use their own ego to

6
00:00:27.280 --> 00:00:31.320
transform their solution into yours. So Prince Harry cropping up

7
00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:34.280
in Ukraine to declare the world is craving some American

8
00:00:34.359 --> 00:00:38.280
leadership could instead light a fire under US President Donald

9
00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:42.640
Trump that benefits no one. Provoking Trump's is certainly not

10
00:00:42.679 --> 00:00:45.679
going to win Harry friends when he jets back to California,

11
00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:48.880
as the President is already not his biggest fan. Once again,

12
00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:52.719
the Duke of Sussex's desperate craving for relevance and importance

13
00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:56.399
away from the respected royal family has highlighted his naivety

14
00:00:56.520 --> 00:00:59.840
on the world stage. Harry's obsession with placing himself from

15
00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:02.320
the heart of tragic events is getting beyond a joke.

16
00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:05.560
Only last week, he and Megan Markle jetted into Australia

17
00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:08.519
and met survivors of the December twenty twenty five Bondai

18
00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:12.120
Beach terror shooting. Before that, they went to Jordan to

19
00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:16.239
meet conflict refugees and humanitarian aid workers. Next thing will

20
00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:19.200
probably pop up in Israel and then Gaza laden with

21
00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:22.519
Began's raspberry jam and organic honey to impart their wisdom.

22
00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:25.079
So what exactly did forty one year old Harry say

23
00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:29.239
in Ukraine? Well, firstly he urged Russian President Vladimir Putin

24
00:01:29.319 --> 00:01:31.959
to be nice. As a former kg B officer, that

25
00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:35.280
should do the trick. Then he switched to Trump. Failed

26
00:01:35.319 --> 00:01:38.560
assurances and failed leadership. If there is one thing Trump

27
00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:41.400
lives to exemplify as the alpha male, the big dog,

28
00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:44.799
the silverback, not a leader, I bet Trump is seeing.

29
00:01:45.480 --> 00:01:47.200
I think it was actually brave of Harry to say that,

30
00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:50.480
considering he lives under Trump, and some Republicans wanted Harry deported.

31
00:01:51.799 --> 00:01:55.280
In The Independent, Samuel fish Witch writes, Prince Harry really

32
00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:58.480
wants you to remember Ukraine and Prince Harry. Prince Harry's

33
00:01:58.519 --> 00:02:01.519
reputation as a peacemaker has been on the skids since

34
00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:04.719
he rather famously fell out with his own brother, but

35
00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:07.560
a two days surprise visit to Ukraine will surely change

36
00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:10.639
all that. Following a pleasant working holiday in Australia as

37
00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:13.319
sort of the bouncy accessory to his wife Megan. The

38
00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:15.479
Duke of Sussex has turned his mind to the serious

39
00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:18.360
business of securing world peace, and so he has turned

40
00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:22.080
up in Kiev to sort everything out. These days we

41
00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:25.199
do need certain things explained. Why exactly is Harry here?

42
00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:27.879
He had been invited, he said, to remind people back

43
00:02:27.879 --> 00:02:30.719
home and around the world what Ukraine is up against.

44
00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:34.280
This does perhaps suggest that he thinks everyone else back

45
00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:36.879
home and in fact around the world has forgotten about

46
00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:40.199
Ukraine completely apart from Harry. Maybe that's being unfair or

47
00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:44.039
indeed brutally honest. Harry, of course, has actually gone out

48
00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:45.479
of his way to point out that he was not

49
00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:47.840
speaking for the UK much in the same way that

50
00:02:47.879 --> 00:02:50.199
Australia was not a royal visit and he is not

51
00:02:50.360 --> 00:02:53.599
a politician. It is a knotty list of knots when

52
00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:55.759
you are a non working royal training to make your

53
00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:58.560
way in the world. Prince Harry has said he will

54
00:02:58.599 --> 00:03:01.240
always be part of the royal family, even as he

55
00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:05.919
continues to operate independently on the global stage. Speaking to

56
00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:07.840
ITV's Royal editor christ Ship at the end of the

57
00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:10.680
two day visit to Ukraine, Harry appeared more willing to

58
00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:14.120
speak openly on international issues. He said, I am here

59
00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:16.360
working doing the things that I was born to do,

60
00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:19.400
and I enjoyed doing it. From my perspective, we need

61
00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:21.479
to feel in power to speak truth to power. It's

62
00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:24.599
really that simple. What would worry me if we live

63
00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:27.000
in a world where anyone in my position, or anybody

64
00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:29.840
anyway can't speak about the very things and the realities

65
00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:33.439
that we are seeing. I fundamentally disagree with that. Asked

66
00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:35.719
whether his remarks would complicate King Charles's visit to the

67
00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:38.680
United States, Harry said no, I don't think so, not

68
00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:43.280
at all. Some are criticizing Harry's eco warrior persona. According

69
00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:45.479
to a report in The Express Prince, Harry has logged

70
00:03:45.560 --> 00:03:48.639
nearly forty thousand miles of air travel in just two months,

71
00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:53.000
prompting renewed scrutiny given his long standing advocacy on climate issues.

72
00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:57.120
The Duke's travel schedule, spanning late February through April, included

73
00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:01.039
multiple long haul journeys across several continents. The itinerary began

74
00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:03.240
with a trip from his home in California to Jordan,

75
00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:06.360
alongside Megan Margle, where they attended meetings in Aman and

76
00:04:06.439 --> 00:04:09.879
visited Thestari refugee camp at the invitation of the World

77
00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:14.280
Health Organization. That round trip alone accounted for roughly sixteen thousand,

78
00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:17.480
four hundred miles. In mid April, the couple traveled to

79
00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:20.439
Australia for a four day visit covering Melbourne, Camber and Sydney,

80
00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:24.839
adding approximately seventy five hundred miles. From there, Harry continued

81
00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:27.680
on to Eastern Europe, flying from Sydney to Poland around

82
00:04:27.759 --> 00:04:31.160
ninety seven hundred miles before completing the final four hundred

83
00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:34.480
thirty mile leg into Kiev by train. Return flight to

84
00:04:34.519 --> 00:04:39.600
California was estimated at another sixty three hundred miles. Taken together,

85
00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:42.839
the flight's total roughly thirty nine thousand, nine hundred miles

86
00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:46.279
over a sixty day period, roughly the equivalent of circling

87
00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:49.560
the Earth more than one and a half times. The

88
00:04:49.639 --> 00:04:53.480
report notes that Harry has frequently spoken about environmental responsibility

89
00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:57.920
and founded the sustainable travel initiative Travelist in twenty nineteen

90
00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:02.040
to promote more responsible too and practices. He has previously

91
00:05:02.040 --> 00:05:04.600
said I spend nineteen nine percent of my life traveling

92
00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:07.240
the world by commercial occasionally there needs to be an

93
00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:10.319
opportunity based on a unique circumstance to ensure that my

94
00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:17.839
family is safe, more palasy. Just a moment. Meghan has

95
00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:19.920
been sending out candles for Mother's Day, so we know.

96
00:05:19.959 --> 00:05:22.480
Williams shared a moment on social media revealing a package

97
00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:26.160
that included chocolates two candles from Markle's lifestyle brand as Ever.

98
00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:29.759
In a handwritten note that she showed the contents, Williams joked,

99
00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:33.199
I debotched it. She added, Meghan is like so classy

100
00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:35.079
and I'm just like, look at this. This is nuts.

101
00:05:35.720 --> 00:05:38.000
She went on to say the chocolate was beautiful, it

102
00:05:38.040 --> 00:05:40.680
was delicious. I don't like chocolate, but I've been killing them.

103
00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:44.000
The note included a more personal touch. Mirkal explained that

104
00:05:44.040 --> 00:05:47.279
the candles carried symbolic meaning, writing that they were tied

105
00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:50.720
to the memorable moments of motherhood, with each one named

106
00:05:50.759 --> 00:05:53.639
after the birth dates of her children, Prince Archie and

107
00:05:53.639 --> 00:05:56.959
Princess Liliban. Megan may have made a subtle adjustment to

108
00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:01.040
her lifestyle brand's latest product descriptions. The as Ever line

109
00:06:01.079 --> 00:06:05.000
introduced two candles priced at ninety dollars each inspired by

110
00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:08.040
her children with Prince Harry, Prince Argie and Princess Lilibert.

111
00:06:08.680 --> 00:06:12.040
Early press materials for the Mother's Day Candle collection explicitly

112
00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:15.519
used the children's royal titles. One product was described as

113
00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:18.519
having a light floral scent inspired by Princess Lilabert of

114
00:06:18.519 --> 00:06:21.480
Sussex birth date, adding a sense of brightness and openness

115
00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:24.360
to the home, with the release adding this candle is

116
00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:28.480
inspired by Meghan's daughter, Princess Lilibert. However, since the products

117
00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:31.160
officially went on sale, those references have been removed from

118
00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:36.040
the website. The updated descriptions now take a more neutral tone.

119
00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:39.480
One candle is listed as crafted and curated by our

120
00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:43.160
founder inspired by her son Archie's birth date of May sixth.

121
00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:45.879
On the other states, it was crafted and curated by

122
00:06:45.879 --> 00:06:48.199
our founder to on her daughter Lilibert's birth date of

123
00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:52.600
June fourth. Meghan's truffles are not being well received by some.

124
00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:55.120
The collection includes chocolates and two candles inspired by the

125
00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:57.439
birthdays of the children, along bundled sets such as the

126
00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:00.839
Sweetest Mum Set and Mother's Day Edit. Priced items a

127
00:07:00.839 --> 00:07:04.079
box of chocolates retailing at about fifty eight dollars. The

128
00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:06.279
chocolates are part of what the brand described as a

129
00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:11.040
limited edition collaboration with Los Angeles based Chocolate tear Compartes,

130
00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:14.480
created just in time for Mother's Day. The product description

131
00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:17.600
adds soft and decad and caramel scenters a layered with

132
00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:20.759
flower sprinkles, adding a beautiful layer to the rich dark chocolate.

133
00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:23.639
Made for gifting or keeping close, They're easy to return

134
00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:26.319
to one piece at a time until I will treat

135
00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:29.639
for yourself with someone you love. Online reaction has been

136
00:07:29.680 --> 00:07:32.600
critical in some quarters. When user wrote, so let's look

137
00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:34.199
at what you get in the new box of chocolates

138
00:07:34.240 --> 00:07:36.800
for Mother's Day. It's a six ounce box of ten

139
00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:40.800
small caramel filled dark chocolates with cepflower petals for fifty

140
00:07:40.839 --> 00:07:44.360
eight dollars. That's ten dollars per ounds. Folks, others everywhere

141
00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:47.800
deserves so much better. Another commented, I'd rather spend fifty

142
00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:51.199
eight quid on Reese's peanut buttered cubs and knock myself sick.

143
00:07:52.120 --> 00:07:53.800
And there you have it. If you'd like to email

144
00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:56.519
us or addresses the Palace Intrigue at gmail dot com,

145
00:07:56.519 --> 00:07:59.160
please for us on Spotify, Apple or the app of

146
00:07:59.240 --> 00:08:02.480
your choice by my Francis, my thanks to John McDermott.

147
00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:09.279
This is palace intrigue in good times. M

Prince Harry defends Ukraine visit as criticism mounts over comments and travel

Listen On

Recent Episodes