BREAKING NEW: Prince Harry just made another royal enemy – driving Prince William and Princess Kate crazy clearly isn’t enough
Harry’s South Korea triumph should feel like a win, but the timing lands like a quiet betrayal that makes even the steadiest royals bristle.
Kate, William, Harry and Meghan in 2022 (Image: Getty)
In recent years Prince Harry has irritated his own brother and sister-in-law, his father King Charles and his stepmother Camilla – now he might have added his aunt Princess Anne to the list. This week the Duke of Sussex, 41, announced with great fanfare that he was “delighted” to reveal the 2029 Invictus Games will be held in Daejon, South Korea.
Yet just four days earlier, the Royal Family shared news and updates about Princess Anne’s mid-July trip to the exact same country. While over there the Princess Royal and Sir Tim Laurence had paid tribute to fallen British soldiers at the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan.
She also held a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Seoul to discuss trade, security, and industrial cooperation.
However, some angry royal fans took to social media to accuse Harry of making his announcement within days of Anne’s visit to try to steal the Royal Family’s headlines for himself.
One person raged on X: “Of course Prince Harry has known for a while where the next Invictus Games are going, he just HAD to wait until #PrincessAnne was there in South Korea to announce it.”
Others believed it was a strategic publicity move, claiming he “never left the Royal Family or the establishment”.
Prince Harry said in a statement on Monday: “As the first Asian nation selected to host the Games, the Republic of Korea represents an exciting new chapter in our journey to ensure that more wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans can benefit from the power of sport and the strength of the Invictus community.”
The timing of Harry’s announcement could have been unfortunate. However, he and his social media team are quite astute.
Knowing the Royal Family was already making headlines with the Princess Royal’s trip, it does not take a rocket scientist to realise the potential for piggy-backing on the South Korea news bandwagon.
What this hints at is a little bit of desperation.
When Harry came to the UK earlier this month to promote the countdown to the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham, he could easily have made this announcement on his first day back in Blighty – on July 7.
Princess Anne did not start her South Korea trip until Monday, July 13, but often it can take a day or two for images and details to emerge – so Harry would not have been stealing her limelight.
In fact, knowing Princess Anne has a cheeky sense of humour she may even have mentioned the Invictus Games was now coming to South Korea when she was there and doing her meeting and greeting.
But Harry kept silent and waited until just a few days after Anne returned home to make his South Korea revelation – just as details of her trip were making headlines.
It’s like he wanted to gauge the media interest in her visit to the country before wading in and making his own announcement. The timing will not be lost on those within the Royal Family.
Anne has reportedly always had a fondness for her nephew but that was said to have cooled following his release of his autobiography Spare and his rampant criticism of Charles, William, Catherine and Camilla.
She sees duty above all, residing with her country and her brother as the King.
As the second child of Queen Elizabeth II, Anne was her brother’s spare – yet while Harry causes his sibling William nothing but a headache, Anne exudes loyalty, devotion and duty.
