Prince Harry was welcomed with a standing ovation on a recent episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert only to be booed later during the interview. The audience’s loud displeasure with the Duke of Sussex’s remarks followed as he took a jab at US President Donald Trump, quipping “I heard you elected a king.”
Shortly after his headline-making appearance, a royal expert sounded the alarm that Harry’s “king” quip may have been intentional. Here’s why.
Royal expert speaks out about Prince Harry’s ‘deliberate attempt to get deported’
Recently, royal expert Hilary Fordwich told the news outlet Globe that Prince Harry may be intentionally swinging in the anti-Trump direction. “If Harry’s home life is as unpleasant as we’ve seen, this may be a deliberate attempt to get deported. It’s entirely possible,” she said.
The royal expert’s claims aligned with the seemingly endless chatter around the rumoured strained relationship between Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle.
In turn, President Trump also took a swipe at the self-exiled royal couple earlier this year. “I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible,” the MAGA leader said of the possibility of deporting the Duke of Sussex, as per the New York Post. “I think poor Harry is being led around by the nose.”
What Prince Harry really said about Trump
In the first week of December, Prince Harry popped up on an episode of the American talk show The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The YouTube video titled “Will Prince Harry Ever Get To Be A Hallmark Christmas Movie Prince?” caught the Duke of Sussex engaging in playful banter with Colbert. As they discussed the possibility of the Brit personality starring in a Hallmark Christmas movie, Harry quipped that Americans were obsessed with royalty.
While Colbert did his bit in denying the claim, Harry went on to question it: “Really? I heard you ‘elected’ a King.” Boos echoes through the room.
The ‘king’ allusion to Trump also serves a quick reminder of the ‘No Kings‘ movement in the US, which particularly picked up momentum in the country this past June. The series of demonstrations, also recognised as the ‘No Dictators’ or ‘No Tyrants’ protests, were organised to demonstrate millions of people’s disapproval of the second Trump administration.
Just days later, the UK royal again took a shot at Trump, targeting his immigration crackdown backed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the US. While at the British American Business Council in Santa Monica, Harry proudly spoke up for England’s and Scotland’s soccer teams’ participation in the upcoming World Cup in Los Angeles.
“Next year, I know we are looking forward to welcoming more Brits from across the pond. Provided they behave, and if they make it through customs, and past ICE,” he said at the event.
Prince Harry’s US visa status explored
Prince Harry’s legal immigration status in the United States has long been under scrutiny ever since he admitted to drug use in the past in his memoir “Spare,” which was originally published in 2023.
His admission of having taken cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms especially emerged as a problematic issue because drug use confessions like such can lead to visa applications being rejected.
The duke officially moved to a US residence in California in June 2020, after he and Meghan Markle, renounced their roles as senior royals that year. It is unclear what type of visa he used to enter the US. However, Chabin Immigration Law Office, a US immigration and visa practice, speculated earlier this year that he may have travelled on an A-1 Head of State visa.
“There is a category of highest level members of a country’s public leaders called A-1 Head of State, for which Prince Harry could qualify as a member of a royal family, for which he need not be a “working” royal or even a “working” government official,” Chavin Immigration Law Office stated in a news release published earlier this year.
Over these last few years, conservative American think tank, the Heritage Foundation, has repeatedly taken up arms against US authorities. Consequently, redacted immigration documents linked to Prince Harry’s case were unearthed, especially in the wake of the organisation suing the Department of Homeland Security in 2023.