“I am not here as a politician,” said Prince Harry of England on April 26 during a speech at an international security conference held in Kiev (Ukraine). He may not be a politician, but his travels and public statements point to a growing interest in commenting on international affairs; something very unusual among members of the royalty. In recent months, the youngest son of King Charles III has been speaking out on social, political, and humanitarian issues. Although he does so from a position away from the royalty: since 2020 he has not been part of the active Windsor agenda, by his own decision, and his actions do not represent his family, although in one way or another they always end up affecting them.
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During his third visit to Ukraine, he called for more help and support for Ukrainians and soldiers on the front lines — including warnings to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin — and on Thursday, May 14, the Duke of Sussex published an extensive article in The New Statesman expressing his concerns about the political division occurring in the United Kingdom and the growing wave of antisemitism in his home country. My fears for a divided kingdom is the title of this first article in which he acts as a political columnist — it has not been reported whether this will be a regular collaboration. “Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is a veteran and advocate for human rights and mental health,” explains the biography accompanying the text.
“In recent years, I have spoken about the consequences of a world where outrage outweighs humanity, where fear and division spread faster than the truth, and where people are too easily reduced to categories, identities, or opposing sides. What worries me now is the dangerous way that same moral blurring is taking root in some parts of the United Kingdom,” begins the article on the website of The New Statesman, a British political and cultural magazine published in London.
Although he positions himself against the growing wave of antisemitism occurring in his home country, he also points to Israel for acting “without accountability and in ways that raise serious questions under international humanitarian law,” something that has caused more tension worldwide. However, Prince Harry states that British Jews have suffered hostility and violence because concerns about Gaza and the conflict in the Middle East have been “dangerously conflated” with their communities.
“We cannot ignore an uncomfortable truth (…) Criticism is legitimate, necessary, and essential in any democracy. The consequences are not limited to borders. They extend abroad, shaping perception and inciting tension,” continues the fifth in line to the British throne. He also explains his concern about the growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the United Kingdom, and asserts that silence allows “hatred and extremism to flourish unchecked.” “There are times when our values are tested, not in principle, but in practice. Times when silence is easier, but raising your voice is necessary. I have always believed that we have a responsibility to oppose injustice wherever we see it, and to do so in defense of our shared humanity,” he adds.
Prince Harry emphasizes the attack on a Manchester synagogue on October 2, in which two people died, and the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green, north London, on April 29: “Hatred directed at people for who they are or what they believe is not an option. It is prejudice.” He acknowledges that there is “deep and justified alarm” over events in Gaza, but that this is no excuse for “hostility toward an entire people or religion”: “The responsibility lies directly with the state, not an entire people. Such actions have nothing to do with Judaism.”
He also denounces Israel’s attacks on the Gazan people, but again points out that one cannot “respond to injustice with more injustice”: “If we do, we do not break the cycle, we prolong it. The only way to break it is to refuse to pass it on.” And he continues: “It means being unequivocal: opposing antisemitism wherever it appears, recognizing that anti-Muslim hatred and all forms of racism are nourished by the same source of division. It also means fearlessly denouncing the immense loss of innocent lives, but with care and responsibility.”
In February this year, Prince Harry called for the opening of food and humanitarian aid corridors to Gaza during his tour of Jordan. After his statements, the Israeli government accused him of spreading false information and invited him to visit the humanitarian corridor and witness firsthand how aid was coordinated and distributed. In April in Kiev, he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart to stop hostilities worldwide. Trump publicly responded by saying he appreciated the advice but that the Duke of Sussex does not represent the United Kingdom.
Besides being another article on the situation of international tension, Prince Harry also confronts his past. Specifically, he goes back to 2005, when he was photographed wearing a Nazi costume at a friend’s birthday party. Since then, he has described it as “one of the biggest mistakes” of his life. He also discussed that chapter in his memoir Spare, where he said he had the support of Prince William and Kate Middleton to publish it and that the current monarch said after the controversial photos with the costume became public that it was “youthful foolishness.” “I am fully aware of my past mistakes: reckless actions for which I have apologized, taken responsibility, and learned. That experience strengthens my conviction that clarity matters now more than ever, at a time when confusion and distortion of the truth are causing real harm, even when speaking frankly is not without consequences. It requires responsibility from everyone,” he says in his article.
If anything is clear from Prince Harry’s recent moves — including a trip to Angola in July 2025, where he toured a minefield — it is that honoring his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, has always been on his list of priorities, and in this last year he is trying to get closer to what the princess was.