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Trump attacks Harry: “I wouldn't protect him”

Donald Trump has reopened his attacks on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, saying Harry will be “on his own” if Trump wins a second term.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, Trump said of Harry: “I wouldn’t protect him. He betrayed the queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me.”

On Joe Biden’s approach to the Harry, he added, according to the Daily Mail: “I think they have been too gracious to him after what he has done.”

The bad blood arguably goes back to a 2016 Comedy Central panel discussion in which Meghan, before she was engaged to Harry, said she would move to Canada if Trump was elected and criticized him as “divisive” and “misogynistic.”

Fast forward to 2019, and Trump, visiting the U.K. as president, was due to meet the royal family at a state reception—whose number now included Meghan Markle. Asked in advance how he felt about meeting his critic, Trump responded he had no idea Markle had been “nasty” about him. In the end, some diplomatic shuffling assured the two were never introduced.

In 2022, Trump took things up a notch in an interview with noted Meghan-critic Piers Morgan, saying: “Harry is whipped like no person I think I’ve ever seen.”

He said the couple would divorce, saying, “It’ll end, and it’ll end bad…I want to know what’s going to happen when Harry decides he’s had enough of being bossed around…Or maybe when she decides that she likes some other guy better. I want to know what’s going to happen when it ends, OK?”

Charles’ statement reads in full: “The determination and strength of the Ukrainian people continues to inspire, as the unprovoked attack on their land, their lives and livelihoods enters a third, tragic, year. Despite the tremendous hardship and pain inflicted upon them, Ukrainians continue to show the heroism with which the world associates them so closely.

“Theirs is true valor, in the face of indescribable aggression. I have felt this personally in the many meetings I have had with Ukrainians since the start of the war, from President Zelensky and Mrs Zelenska, to new army recruits training here in the United Kingdom.

“I continue to be greatly encouraged that the United Kingdom and our allies remain at the forefront of international efforts to support Ukraine at this time of such great suffering and need. My heart goes out to all those affected, as I remember them in my thoughts and prayers.”

Harry’s legal woes, continued…

Trump’s remarks on Harry (see above) could be taken as commentary on another saga which threatens to become a major headache for Harry and Meghan.

A conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation (better known, perhaps, as the publisher of the Daily Signal newsletter) has spent over a year now seeking to get access to Harry’s immigration application. They say that having admitted to taking illegal drugs in his memoir, Spare (Harry said cocaine “didn’t do anything for me,” and that during a magic mushroom trip he hallucinated that a toilet was talking to him) he either lied on the forms or got special treatment, as admitting to drug use typically disbars foreign citizens from traveling to the US.

The case was back in court on Friday where lawyers for the Biden administration argued that Harry might have made up stories of his drug use to “sell books.”

The Heritage Foundation’s Nile Gardiner said, according to the Telegraph, that this was a “ridiculous argument,” saying, “He has never denied anything in his own book... including the extensive widespread drug use.”

Speaking outside court after the hearing, Gardiner said it was “highly unlikely” Prince Harry entered as a diplomat as “he had no official role on behalf of British people, his own relationship with the royal family, that was at a low point as the judge himself actually referenced in his remarks.”

The Heritage Foundation previously argued the former royal waived his right to privacy when he “sold every aspect of his private life for, in some estimates, over $135 million,” adding that his claims of his right to privacy have been “met with widespread public ridicule.”

During Friday’s court session Harry’s recent interview on Good Morning America in which he said he had considered applying for US citizenship, was mentioned. The Department for Homeland Security has said Harry has the right to expect his immigration status to remain private.

Opening up

King Charles is fighting his battle against cancer very publicly—astonishing when you consider the obsessive privacy with which previous generations of royals have guarded their medical status.

This week, the palace released a video of the king chuckling as he leafed through some of the 7,000 get well soon cards and letters he has received. They also released a phot of him chuckling at one featuring a dog wearing a post-veterinary surgery device, captioned: “At least you don’t have to wear a cone!” The king said this week he had been reduced to tears by some of the messages he has received, many of which detail the sender’s own battles with cancer.

They sure are emotional: one of the cards shown in the video features a childish scrawl of the words, “Never give up. Be brave.”

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This week in royal history

Happy birthday Timothy Laurence, Princess Anne’s second husband, born on March 1, 1955.

Unanswered questions

When will we hear of Kate Middleton? The news blackout on her health condition has been notable, especially when contrasted with the king’s willingness to let us in on his cancer battle. After William’s words on Gaza, and Charles’ on Ukraine, what will the royals speak out politically on next?