The King’s second son has seen fit to lecture Brits from the other side of the Atlantic.
Prince Harry wrote an article about divisions within British society (Image: Getty)
A prince across the water is traditionally a person of consequence; a person who should be considered in one’s thinking, while bearing in mind that their views or actions could have an impact on your aims. This does not apply to Prince Harry. When he chose to leave the Royal Family with his wife, Meghan Markle, in 2020, he lost his importance. Since then, the couple have been trying to carve out a place for themselves in the United States, with mixed success.
They are viewed by many as nothing more than minor celebrities – objects of curiosity rather than people who wield any real influence. Nevertheless, this week, Harry felt the need to write a piece in the New Statesman about his views on foreign policy and divisions within British society – his duties to the latter he selected to abandon for a glamorous life in Los Angeles. In his article, the prince wrote that Britain is seeing an increase in antisemitism, and “deep and justified alarm” at the loss of life in the Middle East.
Critics suggest that some people attending pro-Palestine protests are exhibiting antisemitism (Image: Getty)
He added, in apparent reference to Israel, that “legitimate protest against state actions” exists “alongside hostility toward Jewish communities at home”, and these issues must not be conflated.
Harry is right – there have been horrific attacks in the UK and the actions of Israel and the affairs of British Jews should not be thought as one and the same.
But it does not take a genius to work this out, and many reasonable people will already be thinking it.
King Charles’ second son mentioned that he had done wrong – he cosplayed as a Nazi at a party in 2005 – insisting in a nine-word phrase: “I am acutely aware of my own past mistakes.”
Perhaps it would have been best, having been caught acting so heinously, and no doubt caused deep distress among the British public, to keep quiet.
I also doubt whether many people actually care about what he has to say on the issue, which is best left to politicians, faith leaders and others with a direct stake in British community relations, which the prince has seemingly chosen to, for the most part, put aside in favour of launching artillery at his family from the other side of the Atlantic, to discuss.
What’s more, his intervention looks to have actually annoyed British Jews.
Shimon Cohen, campaign director of Shechita UK, told me that Harry seems to be suggesting that British Jews had experienced hostility and violence because of concerns about Gaza, which “veers dangerously close to victim-blaming, implying that the actions of a foreign government somehow justify attacks on entirely unrelated individuals in Britain”.
Maybe just stick to your luxurious life of minor notoriety in the States, Hazza.