Prince Harry Accused of 'Destroying the Power’ of Monarchy With His ‘Attention-Seeking’ Ways
Prince Harry ruffled feathers and sparked a collective sense of 'ick' when he stepped onto Stephen Colbert’s show. The Duke of Sussex recently appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he engaged in an easy, good-natured conversation with the host and tried his hand at comedy. The pair even filmed a playful lip-sync reel recreating Alison Hammond’s iconic Great British Bake Off exchange with contestant Mark Lutton. The Duke's clip became viral online, delighting many, but clearly leaving others decidedly unimpressed.
Among Harry’s harshest critics was Sky News Australia host Rita Panahi, who eviscerated the royal for what she saw as a desperate grab for laughs. She branded him a “thirsty attention seeker” and went further, accusing him of being an embarrassment not only to his family but to the country at large. “We’ve had a few days to digest the latest episode of Prince Harry embarrassing his family,” she remarked, before replaying the clip for author Douglas Murray, who appeared just as unimpressed by the Duke’s foray into late-night levity.
Murray was utterly disappointed after watching the video and claimed he felt "deep, cringing embarrassment." "I never want to see it again. The whole thing is excruciating. When someone tries their hand at comedy, the normal thing to say is, 'Don't give up your day job.' Except you can't say that in this case because it's not clear what Harry's day job is," he quipped.
The author thinks Harry lacks purpose in life and is wasting it away, pulling embarrassing stunts. "He seems to me to be intent on destroying the mystique and some of the power, really, of the monarchy as an institution," he added. Murray later compared how different Harry's life would have been if he had stayed back in the UK, rather than attending TV shows in the US. "He would be with the UK at the moment with his wife, and they would be performing royal duties. They would be raising funds for deserving charities and opening sports facilities and school halls to enamored crowds of people who wish them well," he opined.
The author added, "They could actually be doing good with their lives, and instead, there's just this peripatetic wandering around TV studios, and it's such a bad way for him to spend his life." Murray shared how, according to him, Harry has lost all the love and admiration people had for him. "I hope that he realizes what a mess he's made of all this, how incredibly unrewarding it is to spend your time doing this. Nobody wants it. Nobody likes it," he shared. However, not everyone agrees with the author.
Previously on Loose Women, Hammond gushed about Harry's video, and even Lutton was in awe of the Prince. “I couldn’t really quite believe it was a legitimate clip. Yeah, it did blow up. I had so many messages from people sharing it with me. It’s been a nice little flashback to my time on Bake Off," shared Lutton.