Britain’s Prince Harry appeared before the United Nations on Monday to take a swipe at his adopted home, the United States. It might have been a damning attack — if only there were anyone there to hear it.
The Duke of Sussex was roundly mocked on social media after pictures of the U.N. General Assembly during his address circulated online — with empty seats far outnumbering those that were occupied.
It was another sign that while Harry may be very interested in lecturing the world and the United States on his values, the world is not particularly interested in listening — and with good reason.
(Here at The Western Journal, we’ve chronicled how Harry and other celebs have tried to push their values on the rest of us — and how, for the most part, they’re not succeeding. The mainstream media keeps giving them attention, however. We’ll keep countering their celeb-worship with the truth — and you can help by subscribing.)
According to the U.K. Daily Mail, Harry’s address was the keynote speech for Nelson Mandela Day at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City.
As for Mandela, Harry told the not-entirely-august audience that a photo of him and his mother, Princess Diana, meeting Mandela in 1997 remains on his “wall and his heart.”
He also noted that he knew his wife, Meghan Markle, was the one for him after a visit to Africa.
However, most of the headlines from the speech came from his attacks on the United States over the Supreme Court’s decision issued in June to overturn Roe v. Wade.
In what the Daily Mail called a “thinly veiled attack” the ruling, Harry lamented the “rolling back of constitutional rights” during the speech, apparently connecting the court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health to a “global assault on democracy and freedom.”
#BREAKING: At the United Nations, Prince Harry calls out “the rolling back of Constitutional rights in the United States” as part of “a global assault on democracy and freedom.” pic.twitter.com/RnJNmkPDcp
— Forbes (@Forbes) July 18, 2022
This global assault on democracy and freedom included, among other things, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. You can see how the two are related.
The first was a democratically established, centuries-old American institution ruling that the invented constitutional right to an abortion under Roe v. Wade was just that, returning power over abortion law to the states. The second was a brutal military attack by an oppressive strongman on an independent nation in Eastern Europe, killing tens of thousands and displacing millions.
Almost identical situations, no?
It’s not that the Duke of Sussex’s position on the court’s decision hadn’t already been made publicly known. Last month, Markle said Harry had a “guttural” reaction to the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Should Prince Harry return to the UK?
“They may target women, but the consequences impact all of us. My husband and I talked about that a lot over the past few days. He’s a feminist too,” she said, according to People.
Of course, if Harry is so disturbed, he can just leave the United States and go back to Merrie England, where abortion has been legal to the 24th week of pregnancy since 1967. He chose to come here after stepping down as a working royal, after all.
The problem is that not all that many of the queen’s subjects in ol’ Blighty like him, either — consider that footage of Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, when played at a U.K. awards show, caused the audience to break out in boos.
In fact, it’s an open question how many people like him, period. Look at the crowd for his keynote speech at the U.N.:
‘Was a packed house’ Prince Harry mocked as picture emerges of near-empty UN crowdhttps://t.co/uVzxGZJnOX pic.twitter.com/YBrZAxHqE9
— Daily Express (@Daily_Express) July 18, 2022
This looks a lot like a Milli Vanilli reunion tour, not a British royal addressing the United Nations.
Plenty of users on social media mocked Harry’s pitiful draw.
It was tough making it through Prince Harry’s tedious speech at the empty UN. He is one of the bad guys, for sure.
“Our world is on fire… And America needs abortions” pic.twitter.com/PSbn8UlnER
— slzzpeasy (@slzzpslzzp) July 18, 2022
Shame on the two guys in the front row. #Harry #UNGA #Hubris #Nemesis pic.twitter.com/s34hlBeYJD
— Christopher Wilson (@TheWislon) July 18, 2022
Looks like Harry was talking to himself…https://t.co/WyFjMtQU5I
— Johnners (@Johnners75) July 19, 2022
Others were less kind, noted this was a British royal interfering in the politics of the United States:
In a speech Prince Harry just gave to the UN, he appeared to criticise the US Supreme Court for re-asserting the right of states to set their own laws on abortion. If his father had made this kind of intervention in another country’s democracy, he’d have been rightly condemned. pic.twitter.com/9EDWxExSa0
— Colin Brazier (@colinbrazierGBN) July 18, 2022
Harry has made a habit of this, never with much success.
He considers the First Amendment “bonkers” — an understandable opinion coming from a man who hails from a country where an errant sneeze can get you sued for libel, but probably something he ought to shut up about, given the fact a) he’s a high-profile guest here and b) he seems determined to prove why we decided to chase the royals out back in 1776.
At the very least, few people watched his piffle live. Even fewer took his subject seriously. For once, it seems, we’re all united: Nobody wants to see what the most air-headed of the Windsors has to say about American politics or global affairs.
