Disgraced British “His Royal Highness, The Duke of Sussex,” otherwise known as Prince Harry, gave a woke, conservative-bashing speech at a United Nations summit on International Nelson Mandela Day, apparently thinking (incorrectly) that Americans give a whit about what he has to say.
As my colleague Cameron Arcand reported Monday, Harry took aim, not at the country he ran away from, England, but at his new home, the United States. With immense gravity and importance, he educated us lowly commoners:
This has been a painful year in a painful decade. We’re living through a pandemic that continues to ravage communities in every corner of the globe. Climate change wreaking havoc on our planet, with the most vulnerable suffering most of all. The few weaponizing lies and disinformation at the expense of the many. And from a horrific war in Ukraine, to the rolling back of constitutional rights here in the United States, we are witnessing a global assault on democracy and freedom, the cause of Mandela’s life.
What an uplifting message. NOT.
When he talks about the rolling back of constitutional rights, he’s clearly referring to the overturn of Roe v Wade, which his wife and ‘”soulmate” Meghan Markle is infuriated about. He didn’t explain why we would want a member of the British Monarchy—the very monarchy we rebelled against to form our own country—voicing opinions on our Constitution.
Nevertheless, he continued:
How many of us feel battered, helpless in the face of the seemingly endless stream of disasters and devastation?
What an uplifting speech. It reminds me very much of Mitt Romney’s depressing Independence Day op-ed, which basically just moaned about every difficult issue faced by mankind, implied that it was all somehow your fault, but offered no solutions or hope.
One can only wonder, who chose this clown to honor Nelson Mandela? And why? Harry was a somber, unsmiling bearer of doom and gloom, not what you’d expect from a man delivering a UN tribute speech.
Reviews were not good, and social media users didn’t waste time spanking the Prince:
If you owe everything you have in life to the title of nobility that was bestowed on you at birth, you should feel free not to lecture anyone about democracy and freedom. https://t.co/zF0MW8t6jz
— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) July 19, 2022
Remember, this speech was supposed to be honoring Nelson Mandela. Let’s try not to forget the legendary, anti-apartheid activist amidst Harry’s ponderous narcissism:
Nelson Mandela would have been disappointed in Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Mandela was a man of peace & resilience – NOT the petty resentment or self-absorbed whingeing that Harry and Meghan display. Their hypocrisy proves just how out-of-touch they are with Mandela's values. pic.twitter.com/tW19lrCXz5
— Pooja (@Pooja33719735) July 19, 2022
Print publications were not kind, either. Although I don’t always agree with commentator Meghan McCain, she’s spot on with this take in a Daily Mail column: “The speech was confusing and wildly insulting to the undoubtedly few Americans who may have been watching,” she wrote.
“Go home, little boy,” tweeted American Greatness senior fellow Ned Ryun. Ouch!
Daily Mail’s Sarah Vine was particularly savage, writing of Harry:
Dear God, the man is a walking wet weekend, a human root canal. Which is odd, because who wouldn’t want to be him?
Like a vacuum-cleaner of doom, he sucked all hope and joy out of the room, marking Nelson Mandela Day — named in honour of one of the most inspirational men of the 20th century — with a finger-wagging lecture on failure.
According to the UK’s Express, some folks across the pond weren’t that thrilled either. Royal biographer Angela Levin said in an interview:
The Americans are absolutely furious with him because how dare an English Prince with a title tell them what to do. He talks about climate change and the problem it is and how it eats him up and he was going home in a private plane – there’s a sort of nonsensical hypocrisy there.
He’s very cross at the, about the vote against abortion – well, that’s not his business, is it?
I think it took very much away from the focus on Mandela.
There were many—MANY—more criticisms of Prince Harry’s speech online and in print Tuesday. One can feel sorry for him, for the tragedy of losing his mother and even sympathize with his apparent mental health struggles. It is nevertheless wildly inappropriate for a member of the British Royal Family to lecture us on our soil about our guns, our Supreme Court decisions, or anything else.
The criticism he’s receiving is entirely deserved.
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