Prince Harry blasts US over ‘assault on democracy’ in UN speech

Channelling Greta Thunberg, Prince Harry has declared ‘the world is on fire’ in an address to the UN that also attacked big oil and the US Supreme Court.

Prince Harry delivers the keynote address at the Nelson Mandela Prize award ceremony at the United Nations. Picture: AFP.

Channelling teen Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, Prince Harry has declared “the world is on fire” in a stirring address to the United Nations that warned of a “global assault on democracy and freedom” and urged people to share.

In a speech that might have impressed far-left Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Duke of Sussex slammed “big oil companies” for “wreaking havoc on the planet” and blasted the US Supreme Court for “rolling back” the constitutional right to an abortion.

“Right now, water is rising all around us, quite literally,” the 37-year old prince warned, speaking at the UN General Assembly on Monday (Tuesday AEST) on a day to mark the life of Nelson Mandela, the late anti-apartheid activist and former president of South Africa.

“This has been a painful year in a painful decade,” the Duke, the late Princess Diana’s second son, said, leaving no left-wing cliche unturned in his 15 minute speech.

The world was at “a pivotal moment”, facing multiple crises including a COVID-19 pandemic that was “ravaging every corner of the globe”, climate change, disinformation, the “horrific” war in Ukraine and “the rolling back of constitutional rights here in the United States”, the royal said, drawing some criticism.

“He needs to shut up about the US Constitution,” said veteran British journalist Andrew Neil on Twitter.

Spectator World (US edition) on Prince Harry at the UN: He needs to shut up about the US Constitution already https://t.co/i6jAVuMgm0

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) July 18, 2022

In a clarion call for action the Duke, who split from the royal family in early 2020 for a life in California with his American wife, actress Meghan Markle, urged governments to make “daring transformative decisions to save humanity” without revealing what those decisions should be.

“The right thing to do is not up for debate and neither is the science, the only thing is whether we are brave enough or wise enough,” he explained.

“Reject old ideas and past prejudices, [and] heal from the past and build resilience for the present and future,” he continued, adding that “legacy does not belong to the self, it belongs to those it impacts”.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the 2020 UN Nelson Mandela Prize award ceremony at the United Nations. Picture: AFP.

Since Mandela’s death in 2013, the UN has made July 18th – the late president’s birthday – an international day to honour his legacy and contributions, which were instrumental in overthrowing the apartheid regime in South Africa in the early 1990s, which led to Mandela’s presidency of the republic from 1994 to 1999.

In a speech that raised eyebrows in some quarters, the sixth in the line to the British throne said the world was “meant to be shared … We have an obligation to give as much if not more than we take”.

Prince Harryand Meghan arrive at the United Nations headquarters. Picture: Getty Images.

“Nothing speaks to a lifetime of struggle for equality than an estranged royal living in exile on an $18 million estate,” said George Washington university law professor Jonathan Turley, on social media, referring to the prince’s new palatial home in Santa Barbara.

The prince, who gave a shout out to his “soulmate”, Ms Markle, 40, sitting in the audience, likened the struggle of Mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years by the South African apartheid regime, to the fight against climate change, food insecurity and what he called the “global assault on freedom”.

South African President Nelson Mandela, left, holds hands with Diana Princess of Wales in 1997. Picture: AP.

“We can grow apathetic, succumb to anger, or yield to despair, surrendering to the gravity of what we’re up against, or we can do what Mandela did … We can find meaning and purpose in the struggle, we can wear our principles as armour,” he recommended.

“How many of us feel battered, helpless in (the) face of a seemingly endless stream of disasters and devastation”.

The keynote speech was the prince’s second major public appearance since returning to the UK in June to mark his grandmother the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on the British throne, prompting speculation of a rapprochement of sorts between the prince, his father Charles, and brother William.

The prince said his trips to Africa since the age of 13 had been his “lifeline, a place where I’ve found peace and healing time and time again”.

“At a time of global uncertainty and division when it’s all too easy to look around and feel anger or despair, I’ve been inspired to go back to Mandela’s writings for insight into how this could be,” he said.

The Duke and Duchess established their own charity, the Archewell Foundation, in 2020, “an impact-driven non-profit” whose “core purpose is to uplift and unite communities — local and global, online and offline”.