Prince Harry Takes Swipe at Donald Trump During Stephen C...

By Jack Royston and Shane CroucherShareNewsweek is a Trust Project member

Prince Harry made a surprise appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on Wednesday night.

In a skit, the Duke of Sussex teased Americans for their obsessive interest in royals. Colbert pushed back, saying "I wouldn't say we're obsessed with royalty".

"Really?" Harry replied. "I heard you elected a king."

"And after making such a big deal about my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather George III," he added.

President Donald Trump's opponents have accused him of acting like a monarch because of his aggressive use of executive power, and there were large-scale "No Kings" protests in response.

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Prince Harry's latest comments risk re-igniting a feud between the Sussexes and Trump which dates back to 2020 when Harry and Meghan Markle commented in the run up to that year's election, in which Trump lost to Joe Biden.

Meghan Markle got the ball rolling by appearing on a Michelle Obama backed get out the vote initiative, When All Women Vote, and spoke of wanting the "change we all need and deserve."

In the context of Biden trying to kick Trump out of the White House, and given the projects strong Democrat links, it was widely interpreted as a thinly veiled endorsement.

That September Harry added his own comments to Meghan's: "As we approach this November, it's vital that we reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity."

Again, the references were interpreted as a subtle swipe at Trump.

The president, though, quickly hit back at the couple telling reporters at a White House press briefing: "I'm not a fan of hers..

"I would say this - and she has probably has heard that - I wish a lot of luck to Harry because he's going to need it."

The conflict appeared to cool in the run up to the 2024 election, however, while the royal faced a lawsuit filed by right wing think tank The Heritage Foundation, seeking to reveal if he Harry misled border agents about his past use of drugs, which he detailed in Spare in January 2023.

The organization appealed to Donald Trump to review Harry's papers, raising the prospect Harry could have his visa revoked and be kicked out of the country.

Kyle Brosnan, chief counsel for The Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project, previously told Newsweek in a statement: "Prince Harry repeatedly admitted to using illegal drugs in his memoir.

"This fact alone makes him inadmissible into the United States. We sued to get answers to a simple question of whether the government gave Prince Harry preferential treatment when he entered the country."

That case is over, Heritage lost, and there is no sign of them seeking to re-ignite it. However, the saga does mean a lingering risk that a resumption of the row over Harry's visa potentially hangs over any public disputes between Harry and Trump.

It may be that the jokey nature of Harry's comments to Stephen Colbert do not reach that threshold but it is by far the most direct criticism of Trump that Harry has made since the visa issue emerged.

This is a developing article. Updates to follow.