Prince Harry cops major royal slapdown during Tokyo visit
The Duke of Sussex was in joker mode during a Tokyo shopping trip despite being hit with a brutal blow related to his HRH title.
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A smiling Prince Harry has joked that he would “happily” swap the US for Japan during a solo visit to Japan just hours after his HRH title was stripped from the royal family’s website.
Shortly afterwards, the larrikin Prince was seen wearing women’s sunglasses and joking around with polo player Nacho Figueras, who posted on Instagram that he and the royal were “shopping for our wives”.
It came after a royal slapdown in which the title of “His Royal Highness” was quietly removed from Prince Harry’s bio on the website more than three years after he and wife Meghan Markle stepped down from their roles as working royals.
Despite the blow, the Duke of Sussex put on a smiling front in Tokyo, saying he would “happily live here if you’d have me” as he praised the “warmth, compassion and generosity” of Japanese people.
His comments, made after he landed in Tokyo without Meghan and their two children, were greeted with applause at the International Sports Promotion Society (ISPS) conference.
To the delight of his Japanese audience, the Duke told the crowd how he had enjoyed “the most incredible Kobe steak, both for dinner last night and lunch today”.
“Your warmth, your compassion, your generosity, every single element of the Japanese culture is really unique and very, very special,” he said.
In comments echoing his late mother Princess Diana, he told how he had been involved in charities for most of his life and got a huge amount of fulfilment through “giving back to as many people as possible”.
“My life is charity, always has been, always will be,” he said.
After his flying visit to Tokyo, Prince Harry will then travel to Singapore to take part in a fundraising campaign at the Sentebale Polo Cup on Saturday.
Despite a huge fanfare over Prince Harry and Meghan’s agreement to drop their “HRH” titles after stepping back as senior members of the monarchy in 2020, his official page still featured the prestigious letters as recently as late last week.
However, palace aides appear to have quietly made the small but significant edit to his page, removing the “HRH” after the UK’s Express pointed out last Friday that it was still being used on the royal family’s website.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also appear to have been shifted toward the bottom of the royal family’s main page, positioned below working royals but above the disgraced Prince Andrew.
HARRY’S HRH TITLE REMOVED iN OVERHAUL
As part of the agreement made between the Sussexes and the royal family in January 2020, the couple agreed they would no longer use their “HRH” titles after stepping back from their official positions.
HRH titles, which refers to “his/her royal highness,” are spoken and written in front of the names of princes and princesses, as well as their spouses.
Two references to Prince Harry were changed from “HRH” to his title of “the Duke of Sussex” or “the Duke” following a report on the oversight that was published by the British outlet Express last week, reports Fox News.
The outlet reported that the royal family’s website had not been updated completely following the death of the late Queen last September and the coronation of King Charles III in May.
According to the outlet, Charles and his wife Queen Camilla were referred to by their former titles of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, while Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton were designated the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Prince William and Princess Catherine still retain those titles, which were given to them by Queen Elizabeth on their wedding day in 2011, but they were also named the Prince and Princess of Wales by Charles following his ascension to the throne.
The outlet also noted instances in which Elizabeth was still referred to as the reigning monarch instead of Charles, as well as other errors. As of Tuesday, all the outdated references on the website that were pointed out by the outlet had been corrected.
“The Royal Family website contains over five thousand pages of information about the life and work of the Royal Family. Following the death of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, content has been revisited and updated periodically. Some content may be out of date until this process is complete,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.
HARRY IN TOKYO WITHOUT MEGHAN
Earlier, Prince Harry arrived in Tokyo on his second official trip to Japan in four years.
The Duke of Sussex wore a cap with the Archewell logo – the organisation created with his wife – and smiled as he touched down at Haneda Airport to the delight of his Japanese fans.
He was joined by friend and Argentinian polo star Ignacio “Nacho” Figueras.
The LA-based royal and his friend will be attending the SPS Sports Values Summit-Special Edition on Thursday.
While in Asia, Prince Harry will also be taking part in the 2023 Sentebale ISPS Handa Polo Cup in Singapore on August 12.
Sentebal is the organisation that Harry founded in 2006 with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to help children in Africa affected by poverty, inequality, HIV/AIDS and more recently Covid-19.
Harry is set to play on the Royal Salute Sentebale Team against the Singapore Polo Club Team captained by Figueras, one of the charity’s longstanding ambassadors.
The Duke of Sussex said in a statement: “The annual Polo Cup is essential to Sentebale’s vital work ensuring children and young people are healthy, resilient, and able to thrive. The funds raised this year will support our Clubs and Camps program, which provides intensive psychosocial support to young people living with HIV.
“In a time where being HIV positive is no longer a death sentence, we are empowering young people to know their status, stay healthy, and eliminate the stigma so that they can break the cycle.”
“We are delighted to return to the renowned Singapore Polo Club in August, and are once again enormously grateful for the polo community and our sponsors, in particular ISPS Handa, for their ongoing commitment to Lesotho and Botswana’s youth,” he added.
HARRY SENDS WILLIAM ‘PEACE OFFERING’
Prince Harry is hoping to repair his relationship with Prince William and end the feud between their wives Meghan Markle and Catherine, Princess of Wales, according to sources.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are said to want to “make amends” despite the past year of sustained attacks on the royal family amid the death of the Queen and ascension of the King.
The last-ditch olive branch came when Prince Harry offered to rent an apartment in Kensington Palace, where the Prince and Princess of Wales are based with their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
“He and Meghan are offering to rent an apartment at Kensington Palace and furnish it themselves,” the source told the OK! Magazine.
“He hopes that will please William and show that they’re serious about coming back. Harry doesn’t want to become a prisoner of the palace.”
The Sussexes officially moved out of their former British residence at Frogmore Cottage in June, sending items that had been left at the Windsor home back to Montecito, California.
They now have no place to stay when, or if, they ever return to the United Kingdom and instead post up with friends at hotels.
It is understood the pair were not invited to Balmoral to commemorate the first anniversary of the Queen’s death, despite Prince Harry being in Europe during the same time for the Invictus Games.
All senior royal family members, even Prince Andrew, are expected to be at the ceremony but there has not been “any outreach” to Prince Harry or Ms Markle, according to The Sun.
The coming release of Prince Harry’s documentary on the Invictus Games is seen as a way forward from the sordid details of his family feud, while Ms Markle is increasingly said to be feeling out a role in politics.
“I’ve heard from some very reliable sources that she is writing to people to try and secure political positions,” True Royalty TV co-founder Nick Bullen told Fox News Digital. “I think that is absolutely an ambition for her.”
Bullen, who has produced documentaries about the royal family for two decades, added that they will begin working much more separately “because brand Sussex is definitely on the wane”.
“Now, I think you’ll see them concentrating on their individual brands to try and reclaim some of the ground,” he said.
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