Prince Harry has been accused of hypocrisy today after he went rogue and flew to wartorn Ukraine despite claiming he and his family cannot be safe on the streets of the UK.
The Duke of Sussex met with dozens of wounded soldiers in Lviv yesterday - in a city that has been pummeled by Russian jets, missiles and kamikaze drones at least 30 times since the war began.
Yet yesterday Harry flew in after two days in London to argue in the High Court that he, Meghan Markle and their two children are not safe to come to Britain.
His barrister claimed the prince, who is believed to have earned $120million from Netflix and Spotify and lives in a $15million Montecito mansion, must have his full taxpayer-funded bodyguards restored when in the UK because his 'life is at stake'. His lawyers said 'Al Qaeda called for the duke to be murdered' saying 'his assassination would please the Muslim community'.
Harry is now the most senior royal to visit Ukraine but is not believed to have informed Buckingham Palace in advance of his trip. It is also been branded 'highly political' in view of Donald Trump's policy on Ukraine.
Veteran royal correspondent and commentator Richard Palmer said: 'The reaction has been uniform. People are saying "hang on he's come over because he needs police protection because he's not safe in the UK. But then he's gone to a warzone in Ukraine".'
'While the city is not on the frontline - it is getting regular bombardments so is quite a dangerous place to go'.
He went on: 'I'm sure it will not go down with some in the Trump camp. It is a public show of support for Zelensky and Ukraine. So that may make life a little less comfortable for him in the US when he gets back'.
2022: 7 dead
APR 2022: Seven dead, 11 injured
2023: 16 dead
MAR 2023: 5 dead
JUL 2023: 10 dead, 42 injured
SEP 2023: One dead
2024: 10 dead
MAR 2024: Two dead
SEP 2024: Seven dead
NOV 2024: One dead
TOTAL: 33 deaths
'Harry has also wiped King Charles and Queen Camilla off some of the front pages today, which is unfortunate', he added.
Piers Morgan went further and said he is a 'hypocrite' and claimed the Ukraine trip made Harry look as 'dumb as a rock'.
The
Photos shared in the evening showed the royal with a smile ear-to-ear, posing with dozens of wounded soldiers.
One image showed the Duke with a solemn expression as he chatted to a visibly injured youngster.
The visit to the area in western Ukraine, that has frequently been targeted with Russian missiles, was not announced until after Harry was out of the country.
The Duke travelled to Ukraine after spending two days in the Royal Courts of Justice in London, where he is appealing the decision to strip him of his government-funded protection.
It came after he quit working as a member of the Royal Family in 2020 following Megxit.
The Duke flew 5,000 miles from his home in California to attend the two-day hearing to win automatic state security for him, his wife Meghan Markle and their two children Archie and Lilibet.
Harry, who served 10 years in the British Army, has long made helping injured soldiers one of his most prominent causes - founding the Invictus Games in 2014 to offer wounded veterans the chance to compete in sports events similar to the Paralympics.
The prince was joined in Ukraine by a contingent from the Invictus Games Foundation, including four veterans who have been through similar rehabilitation experiences.
The centre offers prosthetics, reconstructive surgery and psychological help free of charge.
Harry was invited by the chief executive of Superhumans Centre, Olga Rudneva, a year ago and again at Invictus Games in February.
He was joined by a group from the Invictus Games Foundation, including four veterans who have been through similar experiences to the veterans and civilians who are being rehabilitated at this centre.
They toured the centre, met patients and medical professionals, and visited with the surgical team to better understand the state-of-the-art services being provided.
The Duke also met with members of the Ukrainian Invictus community as part of the visit, underlining the Foundation's dedication to empowering individuals affected by conflict and injury.
Harry met with Ukraine's Minister of Veterans Affairs, Natalia Kalmykova and reconnected with members of the Ukranian Invictus Games community, including Yulia (Taira) Paievska, a Team Ukraine competitor.
While in London's High Court this week, the Prince claimed he was 'singled out' for 'inferior treatment' when the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) stripped him of his top-level security in February 2020 after he moved out of the UK.
But Sir James Eadie KC, representing the Home Office, said it had discretion to strip his guaranteed full time police security without consulting the Risk Management Board (RMB) quango.
'RMB risk analysis is the usual approach in usual cases,' he told the High Court. 'But there is nothing about the appellant's [Prince Harry's] announcement in January 2020 that he was to step back from his role in the Royal family, and spend most of the time abroad, that was usual.'
The California-based royal is challenging the dismissal of his High Court legal action against the Home Office.
It stems from the decision by Ravec that he should receive a different degree of protection when in the country of his birth because he stepped down as a full-time royal. The case has cost the British taxpayer £500,000 so far.
Prince Harry's lawyer Shaheed Fatima KC insisted that Ravec failed to follow its own guidelines and should have commissioned an assessment of the Duke's security needs from the Risk Management Board (RMB).
