Do you remember King Charles’s coronation in 2023? Do you remember how it was scheduled on Prince Archie’s fourth birthday? Do you remember how much of the energy before, during and after the coronation was devoted to Prince Harry and Meghan Sussex? For months, the coronation storyline was “will the Sussexes be invited” and “will they come?” When Meghan skipped it, they were enraged and they wouldn’t shut up about why she didn’t come back to allow them to scream at her and abuse her. Even the coronation itself felt like it was all about Harry, what he was wearing, who he spoke to, how long he stayed (he left England immediately following the Chubbly), and most importantly, how Harry was “snubbed.” That was a major storyline: sure, the king’s son came to the coronation, but we’re still going to punish him for his crimes of living in California! One of those snubs was… Princess Anne wearing a plumed hat, with a feather blocking some of Harry’s view. Seriously. I bring all of this up because Tom Sykes claimed that “Princess Anne Delivers Epic Snub to Harry in Ukraine.” You see, Harry visited Ukraine last month, and Anne visited the country this week. Here’s Sykes’ take.
Remember the coronation feather? That giant plume on Princess Anne’s hat, which just happened to block Prince Harry’s face from the cameras as he sat in Westminster Abbey for his father’s big day? At the time, there was chatter that Anne herself had wondered whether she should remove it, but she didn’t, and the message, intentional or not, was unmistakable: the showrunners of this soap opera know how to deploy their bit part actors with ruthless efficiency.
Well, they’ve done it again. For, today, it emerged that Anne was parachuted into Harry’s patch — Ukraine — and not just Ukraine, but the very territory you’d think was reserved for Harry alone: the rehab centers, the veteran recovery programs, the Invictus turf.
Other than the, uh, entire itinerary, the contrast couldn’t be sharper. When Harry went to Kyiv last month, his trip was shrouded in secrecy. His meetings weren’t photographed. A rumored encounter with Zelensky has never been confirmed. Harry brought along a friendly Guardian journalist and photographer, and fell, inevitably, into the trap of talking about himself. The predictable result was that the memoir, his father, and his grievances made headlines, rather than what the trip was supposed to highlight: the recovery of wounded veterans in Ukraine. Noble work, yes, but muddied in execution.
Anne? No fuss, no Guardian interview, no Netflix crew, no need to explain or complain. Just the pictures: shaking hands with Zelensky, sitting with amputees in physiotherapy, watching disabled veterans in the gym, poking her nose into the “salt rooms” used for mental and spiritual rehabilitation (yeah, we can do touchy-feely too, pal). Straightforward duty, photographed, packaged, and broadcast by both the palace and the Ukrainians.
Crucially, Anne was there officially, at the request of the British government. Harry had “permission” to go, sure, but Whitehall was visibly uneasy about him freelancing on geopolitics. They couldn’t stop him, but they could make sure he was upstaged. Enter Anne: the hardest-working royal, the archetype of service without ego, beaming out images that Zelensky and Harry weren’t ever going to be allowed to deliver.
Harry’s camp said that Anne’s trip was “great” and that “anything that shines a light on Ukraine is to be welcomed.” Harry is passionate about the cause; he has shown that. But I still can’t help wondering whether, for Meghan and Harry, seeing his aunt beam out the very images he was denied, it all felt very like the coronation feather all over again.
It IS the coronation feather all over again, but not in the way Sykes means. It’s another version of the feather because the Windsors are obsessed with Harry, and they have constantly shown that 90% of what they do and the decisions they make are all for an audience of one: Harry. Anne’s trip didn’t overshadow Harry’s trip last month – Anne’s trip exposed (yet again) that the Windsors are desperate to ride Harry’s coattails and colonize his life and achievements. It’s actually not a flex to admit that the whole-ass British government threw a tantrum and begged President Zelenskyy not to publish his photo with Harry. It’s an admission of how far the British monarchy and government will go to thwart, harm and marginalize Harry through official channels. Also: Harry’s trip was photographed. He was photographed meeting with veterans, he was photographed receiving personal gifts, he was photographed visiting the Alley of Heroes. Ukrainians spoke openly about how they feel like Harry has a Ukrainian spirit, a Ukrainian soul. They admire him and they want to see more of him. Harry’s trip got much more global attention than Anne’s. I would be willing to bet that Harry’s trip got more attention within Ukraine as well.
Screenshot courtesy of the Times.
The only reason Anne got any media attention for this visit is because Harry went there first.
If Harry and/or Meghan had been to Japan, there would have been wall to wall coverage of Ed and Sophie’s visit there.
Anne was there to support children traumatised by war. Sykes is spreading disinformation and misinformation – not for the first time. And Harry’s interview with the Guardian and global coverage was almost entirely focused on Ukraine and Invictus.
They’re using a country at war for royal family media games. It’s abhorrent. 🤦🏽♀️
@beth; Princess Anne has long been interested in the Save the Children foundation. She also has said her calender is in place for many months ahead, so this trip could well have been planned before Harry went to Ukraine. No snub detected here.
They are using a country at war for Royal family media games. It’s abhorrent. 🤦🏽♀️
Shameless, isn’t it?
Agreed. Why are all of the left behinds obsessed with snubbing Harry with each and every thing? There is no altruism with these people, it’s all to one up Harry. Why?
He was never going to be king, although with William’s use of helicopters like Uber, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Is he still helicoptering around with all his kids?
The Ukrainian people made a video joyfully telling Harry happy birthday. One man even gave Harry a personal update on his condition in Harry’s happy bday video because HE KNOWS HARRY GENUINELY CARES AND WOULD WANT TO KNOW.
The royal family are such pathetic losers. No one cares that Princess Anne went to Ukraine.
I think they all are, including their minions Sykes, Maureen et al, on crack. That’s all I got.
Does “snub” mean something different in British English? Does it mean “copykeen-esque visit by lesser-known and unrelatable royal who’s just going through the motions”?
Man now they are using Anne to go after Harry? What a joke this family is with their anything Harry does we can do better horse shit! Problem for them is people see what they are doing and it isn’t better than Harry. Harry actually cares for the work that he does. He isn’t in it for photo ops.
No one even knew she was there, outside of the royalist and rota, while the world watched and reported on Prince Harry’s visit, not to mention the iconic photos that speak volumes. Taking this narrative to spin against Harry just makes the entire Monarchy look nasty and bitter.. crap like this certainly doesn’t help the popularity of the monarchy, and after years of it they deserve their plummeting ratings.
Right? There were photos of Harry. And it got global attention. Far more so than Anne’s visit. So it’s a pathetically weak snub if that was its intention. It’s not a zero sum game either. Any attention towards Ukraine is a good thing, which is what I’m sure Harry believes, whether it’s him or his aunt. This is the kind of petty stuff that makes the RF and the BM look bad.
Harry trip to Ukraine was reported globally. It was reported on all the national TV stations here. Anne’s not so much. Most people couldn’t pick her out in a line up. These people really are riding Harry’s coattails. I’m sure Invictus appreciates any one shining the light on their wounded veterans. These reporters don’t want to recognize the Prince Harry is a global Prince. Everytime he does something all eyes are always on him. Not the same with Anne, Sophie or any of the other left behind royals. This doesn’t fit their narrative of them admonishing Harry for leaving and doing his own thing. With them it’s always “see Harry this is what you’re missing”. Everyone can see that it’s the royals who constantly copy him and Meghan.
Funnily enough I read another account about Anne’s visit, it was all about the children no mention of vets. She even put one of her daughter’s teddy bears on a memorial for the children which I thought was rather touching.
As someone else said before using Anne to go after Harry regarding injured vets is disgusting. These people have no morals whatsoever. This kind of reporting reeks of high school mean girl language.
Sykes is a mean girl just like his insufferable sister Plum.
Even in the UK Anne’s visit got less attention than Harry’s. Do the people of Ukraine know who Anne is? I don’t actually know anything about Anne’s visit other than she visited a memorial. Harry’s interview with the Guardian was great and Harry was answering questions posed by the journalist so how can Sykes blame him for speaking about himself? He was just answering questions. I found out a lot about what Invictus is doing in Ukraine by reading the interview. I think Sykes is running out of content. This article seems desperate.
Prince Harry’s visit was ALL over the media. I forgot Anne even went. As you said, the only reason she got ANY coverage is because Prince Harry went there first ( and did it better because he genuinely cares for the people there)
It seems like the Royalist’s recent columns haven’t been toeing the family line as closely as they are expected to so he had to whip up this one to get back into good graces. I have to think they must be embarrassed at some point by the dribble they write, but I guess if it keeps the cash flowing in, you do what you have to do.
Here’s the feather you wanted, Sykes.
It’s white.
The universal symbol of cowardice.
Emblematic of the current left behind BRF and the British Establishment of Abandonment Issues Island?
Absolutely.
Keep on tantruming, sad sack.
No one gives a single horse plop about the Mistress of Gatcombe Park. Truly.
It’s interesting. This reads like a slam against Harry, but it really isn’t. You don’t just roust Anne out of bed and send her to Ukraine – it takes time and planning. For her trip to have been intended as a “snub,” the UK government would have had to tell BP about Harry’s intended trip ahead of time and then they would have had to plan Anne’s trip. That’s a lot of time and energy to spend on just delivering a snub. Who knows? Maybe they really are wasting taxpayer dollars on prolonging a family feud, or maybe the two trips were coincidental.
In any case, there wouldn’t be half so many articles like this if they had to be printed on paper.
Anne’s visit was to honor the children killed since the war began. She was there September 30th. How much can you do in one day.
I thought Anne was there partly for Save the Children. So this petty and childish take does that important organization a disservice at the same time. The children orphaned or injured by the war certainly need help and attention. Didn’t Sophie’s earlier visit not focus on women? Perhaps he should mention that Harry was there at the invitation of Ukraine, and that the British foreign minister was there at the same time. Their vindictive focus on putting down Harry just does a great disservice in general perhaps to the attempt of the foreign office to use the royal family to focus on the humanitarian issues.
I find that a lot of these attacks on Harry just show the rest of the RF up as being vindictive, especially William.
Only someone who doesn’t care about all the dead civilians and soldiers, the dead men, women and children, could write something like that. Ukraine can use every advocate, this is not about a ridiculous, greedy competition, but about the deaths and lives of so many people. These scribblers, who only want to provoke outrage, have no honour whatsoever.
🎯
“Anne? No fuss, no Guardian interview, no Netflix crew, no need to explain or complain.“… and, also, basically, no coverage.
Beyond the attention from the trip, Harry was there to look at ways to expand veterans’ recovery programs. Also, Ukraine is vying to host a future Invictus Games even as the war continues. It was hugely impactful. It was not a photo op. Anne’s visit seemed like a photo op. I don’t still don’t know why she was there, beyond the photos to show that a princess was there to view the destruction, nothing was highlighted. What programs did she highlight or support? The impactful visits happened the day Harry and the Foreign Secretary were there. From what I’ve read and the photos I saw of Anne’s visit, she seems like a ‘disaster tourist’.
Anne was there for Save the Children, an organisation she supported for a decade and more. She doesn’t play the silly RF games of “snubbing”. She wanted to visit, she visited. I doubt she spent a second thinking about Harry. Or William.
The feather in the church? She asked Harry if he could see, he didn’t have a problem. They sat him in a place where he was hidden anyway. Wasn’t there a column? However, I remember she was the only one turning around and speaking with Harry.
I hope Catherine takes a lesson from Anne’s visit — THIS is exactly what SHE should be doing for all her supposed love and support for children and “ahly yahs”
So much derangement and spite in this article. Dredging up the plume story does anne no favors. It makes her look bad
This is so sad. Everything the Royal Family does now is in reaction to what Harry and Meghan do.
Harry had “permission” – they tell themselves. He’s a free man who can do as he likes, for Gods sake. And these people who write this – do they all believe he is under the BRF control? They forget they booted him? It’s actually disturbing.
What type of dimwit tries to make a competition out of drawing attention to the problems in Ukraine? So childish. The person who wrote this really should be embarrassed.
Harry was invited to the country. Harry’s visit was purposeful and impactful. It focused on current and future veteran recovery from mental and physical war injuries via his IG Foundation. More than a 100,000 (and increasing) veterans need/will need care. Funding will be needed to expand support across the country. That information came out if Harry’s visit. He highlighted an important need. Also Ukraine is trying to host the Invictus games even as they’re continuing to battle in a war. Also Harry (Archewell Foundation) donated funds to help children recovering from the war.
I still don’t know why Anne visited there but it looked like a photo op as she toured various sites, smiled, shook hands, lay a teddy bear and beamed out photographs. There was no UK media interview with her speaking about why she was there. The Royal media said she was asked by the UK government to visit however the Foreign secretary made an impactful visit the same day as Harry. There was press statement issued about the purpose of her visit. Based on how Anne’s visit is being reported, it seem like the Royal establishment intervened and implored the government to coordinate her visit for optics. 🤷🏽♀️
It’s just abhorrent that a country that’s still at war is being used like this in Royal media PR games. 😠
In that letter, presumably from Charles, that Ann gave Zelensky, Charles probably requested that the Ukrainians not give Harry any security when he’s in that war-torn country.
I really don’t believe Anne would have ever agreed to participate in a gotcha gambit. She has decades with Save the Children & Unicef if I’m not mistaken. She’s not a photo op disaster tourist. This is *exactly* why the BRF reaction to Harry — on perpetual replay, irate, engorged, vitriolic, and spiteful — is ultimately counterproductive. He’s not the only member of his family to take activism seriously, or personally. He actually likely learned a lot about how not to be drifting through life from Anne.
Anne does what she is told. Whether she agrees or not. That being said, she may have had a valid purpose that she can relate to for being there, but it was not highlighted. Her trip was telegraphed by the British media as a Royal snub to her nephew. Did she allow them to usurp the purpose of her visit by not putting out a press release or give an interview about her visit? Staying silent when lies are printed instead of speaking the truth is playing the Royal media game…..especially when it’s something this important. 🤷🏽♀️
Yes, Anne probably genuinely wanted to visit her childrens’ charities. I blame Sykes and the tabloids, perhaps with a little prodding from William, KP and Alderton, for this vicious spin.
Sykes is playing to those of his substack subscribers who hate the Sussexes. Guess he has to mollify the deranged haters for his articles that legit make William look bad. But why write cr@p like this? Is it because the Sussexes don’t give him anything real to hate?
In any case, this is why I won’t subscribe to his substack and give him $5/month. If his Daily Beast column is any indication of his following, his substack must be attracting more and more unhinged haters, to the point where it’s probably (I wouldn’t know) reached the tipping point into having a subscribership of mostly unhinged haters. Hope Sykes is OK with earning a living that way….
Sykes is not to be trusted imo. He’ll say anything for clicks. I think there was a time when he was getting a lot of information from KP but a lot of those sources seem to have dried up.
Sykes is a snide, weedy, poor excuse for a man. Totally amoral, imo, with a long history of spewing biased coverage that’s frequently at odds with easily obtained facts. Often disconcertingly inconsistent, too. The Daily Beast would do well to get shot of him.
Really? I’d say it was the opposite. “Good on you, mate. I’ll do that myself to show solidarity with you and this cause.” How can anyone see this act as malicious?
What’s sad is that the royal family sent an old woman with a history of significant head injury to do the job of its 40-something Crown Prince, and then called that some sort of coup against Harry. William and Charles are beneath contempt using the people of a war torn country in this way.
“His meetings weren’t photographed.”
This is just a straight up lie. Harry was photographed multiple times with Ukraine’s PM and his meetings with the their head of defense, multiple local officials, and their representative to the EU were all made public(many of them by the individuals involved in posts thanking Harry). Save the children supporting Ukrainian children is important and it’s good for Anne to highlight but man is it gross the way the palace machinery is using this to obsess over and attack Harry. They need to reassess their priorities; this is disgusting.
Princess Anne’s trip was probably organised months ago.
Anne’s visit just makes it more obvious how the RF (William and Charles) is jealous of Harry to the point of interfering with important and worthwhile endeavors like wounded veterans and Invictus. There was no reason for them to force Harry to meet Zelensky in secret other than to spare Wilnot’s feelings. They accuse Harry of making everything about himself by giving interviews but the Unroyals manipulated a whole ass government of another country just to placate Wilnot and Charles . Charles was meeting with Thump a few days after Harry’s trip and I think he didn’t want his son shown to be meeting with a head of state as well, as if they were equals.
I don’t think Harry has to worry about being upstaged by Anne. The problem with Sykes’ take is that he is acting like Ukraine is some colony to be fought over, instead of a sovereign nation under bombardment by a very large geopolitical aggressor. It’s extremely poor taste and treats this country as a prop for the UK royals to fight over. Harry was invited by the Ukrainian government, his investment in and devotion to their veterans speaks for itself. Nice of Anne to visit but Sykes is way off base and looks both petty and ignorant of the situation on the ground there. He should stick to tiaras and being Williams whisperer.
Oh, sheesh, not the Netflix crew references again.
Get new material, Sykes!! FFS.
And yes, this smacks of colonialism — using a war-savaged country to play royal games. It’s gross.
Harry’s trip was photographed, filmed, enjoyed, and retold by citizens on the ground. We saw the appreciation from wounded men and women, we heard their panel and Ukrainians controlled the narrative about what the visit meant to them.
Did Anne go? Completely missed it then again unless I search for what she’s up to which is never, I don’t see anything at all. But the way it was described is giving pure propaganda. The author mentions it was packaged which is very telling. Anne brought nothing so people are left to form their own stories.
AS IF this elderly grifter can upstage H.
Try again lol
Tom Sykes story is so weird that I (gently) called him out on it in my comment. His saying there were no photos of Harry’s visit is just bizarre.
Basically, I said that he needs to ignore UK-whatever and view Anne’s visit from Ukraine’s point of view as a show of stable support from the UK.
Harry + the Invictus Games represent the warriors and veterans and the shared past-present-future experiences. – The heart.
Charles represents the state. (His ability to influence Trump – however temporary – is a good thing. Etc). – The head.
Anne represents institutional support. – The body.
It’s all good. Who cares what outsiders think. It means the world to Ukraine.
Can you imagine how deranged the media feeds from these useless carbuncles on society (Sykes, Maureen, Platell, Tina Brown, etc.) are going to be in the leadup to IG?
That’s occurred to me too. I wonder if someone in the government at least will have sense enough to be embarrassed when that begins since the media, and RF, will not.
Let’s not follow his narrative and rant about Anne. She is doing exactly what Royals as charity patrons are supposed to do: highlighting the work of these organizations through visits. She has been involved with Save the Children for decades, this is exactly what she is useful for them for. Of course Harry gets more press than her, but every little attention for Save the Children is good for donations and of course it would have been better for them if the British media had actually reported about what Anne visited and not dreamt up some snub. Even the RF is not stupid enough to think that 70+ Anne can upstage Harry in any way. What I remember about the coronation is not the plume, but Anne happily chatting and laughing with Harry in front of all cameras thereby destroying the „everyone in the family hates him, no one wants to talk to him“ narrative very effectively. I also remember her complaining in an interview about William‘s work ethic not even so subtly. She is not the enemy.
“UKRAINE IS MINE, HAROLD!”
thy just can’t quit them, can they?
What carrot are they dangling in front of poor Tom Sykes’ nose that he’s suddenly trying so hard to become the #1 royal flying monkey, losing his sanity in the process? Or is this literally the only way he can get subscribers? 🤔
Don’t I remember reading that the BRF strongarmed the government into requesting that no photos of Harry and Zelenskyy be released, lest the left behinds look bad?
A lot of this nonsense Is made up out of thin air by the rota rats. It’s publish or perish in that business. When there is no news, as often is the case with the royals, they resort to inventing stories, which includes imagining a snub when there is none. How Anne going to Ukraine a couple of weeks after Harry amounts to a snub I don’t comprehend. If she was in fact looking to snub him she would need to be seen doing something and then excluding Harry from that. Not what happened here. Just bad writing on top of everything else nut I guess that doesn’t matter if it still results in clicks.