Has Prince Harry Soured on America? The Surprising Shift Everyone's Talking About

Prince Harry has pivoted from effusive praise of America to measured criticism of Donald Trump's administration since the president's re-election, while his attention has turned to rebuilding his bond with Britain.

In April 2024, Newsweek broke the story that the Duke of Sussex had changed his official country of residence from Britain to America, while a few months earlier he floated the idea he might gain U.S. citizenship.

Since then though, Harry has not made positive statements about America, instead stating in 2025 that he had no plans to become legally American.

In one of his few comments about his new home, he took aim at Trump's foreign policy, suggesting America had an obligation to support Ukraine's efforts to repel Russia's invasion.

Why It Matters

Prince Harry previously framed America as a life raft after he was, he argues, forced out of the monarchy, moving to California in March 2020. More recently, his attitude appears to have shifted.

That has led some commentators to argue that Harry may want to move back to Britain, citing an essay in which he said America was "currently" his home.

Prince Harry's Praise for America Before Trump's Victory

Before Trump’s return to power, Harry’s public language about the United States was more positive and expansive.

"Home for me, now, for the time being, is in the States," Harry told Hoda Kotb during an interview for Today in April 2022. "And it really feels that way, as well. We’ve been welcomed with open arms and have got such a great community up in Santa Barbara."

And in February 2024, he told ABC's Good Morning America how much he was enjoying his U.S. life, saying "it’s amazing," and adding: "I love every single day."

The prince said he had considered getting U.S. citizenship. Asked what would stop him, he said "I have no idea," before adding: "The American citizenship is a thought that has crossed my mind, but certainly is not something that is a high priority for me right now."

In his book Spare, published in January 2023, Harry described an early trip to America in January 2016, months before meeting Meghan Markle. "The typical Brit, I asked for a gin and tonic," he wrote. "'Hell no,' the Americans said, laughing. 'You’re in the States now, pal, have a real drink. Have a tequila.'"

"I thought: I like these Americans. I like them a lot," Harry wrote. "Strange time to be pro-American. Most of the world wasn’t."

And he was quite specific about why: "I was reminded of my childhood, when people warned me all the time about Americans. Too loud, too rich, too happy. Too confident, too direct, too honest.

"Nah, I always thought. Yanks didn’t beat about the bush, didn’t fill the air with polite snorts and throat clearings before coming to the point.

"Whatever was on their mind, they’d spit it out, like a sneeze, and while that could be problematic at times, I usually found it preferable to the alternative: No one saying what they truly felt. No one wanting to hear how you felt. I’d experienced that at twelve years old [his age when Princess Diana died in a 1997 car crash]. I experienced it even more now that I was thirty-one."

That is not to say he never took aim at Trump prior to 2024. In 2020, in the run-up to the presidential election that Trump lost to Joe Biden, Harry delivered a video for Time 100 calling on Americans to vote in which he said it was "vital that we reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity."

It came a month after Meghan used a voter-registration drive for the Michelle Obama-backed When All Women Vote to call for "the change we all need and deserve." Both comments were interpreted at the time as thinly veiled criticisms of Trump.

Since Trump’s election victory in November 2024, Harry has pivoted from praise for his U.S. life and the warm welcome given to him by emotionally literate Americans to taking aim at U.S. foreign policy.

One of his most significant interventions came at the Kyiv Security Forum in April 2026, when he said America had an obligation to back Ukraine and called for the nation to be shown "respect."

He did not explicitly reference Trump but the relevant context was the infamous standoff in the Oval Office of the White House when the U.S. president told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: "You're gambling with World War III, and what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that's backed you far more than a lot of people say they should."

JD Vance added: "Have you said thank you?"

But Harry suggested American support for Ukraine was in fact not charity.

"The United States has a singular role in this story. Not only because of its power, but because when Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons, America was part of the assurance that Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders would be respected.

"This is a moment for American leadership—a moment for America to show that it can honor its international treaty obligations—not out of charity, but out of its enduring role in global security and strategic stability."

And he appeared to reference some of the fiery comments aimed at Zelensky in the Oval Office when he said: "Respect. Ukraine has earned the respect of the world."

Harry appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in December 2025, where he joked that Americans were obsessed with royalty.

"I wouldn't say we're obsessed with royalty," Colbert replied. Harry said: "Really? I heard you elected a king."

The reference was to the "No Kings" protests that sought to frame Trump's presidency as authoritarian. It was a light-hearted joke, but in a context where Harry has previously criticized Trump.

In 2020, Harry was pranked by Russian comedians posing as climate activist Greta Thunberg and said: "I think the mere fact that Donald Trump is pushing the coal industry so big in America, he has blood on his hands."

While presented humorously, the remark aligned with a broader pattern: Harry has engaged with American politics through critique or satire rather than endorsement.

This marks a departure from earlier messaging, when the United States was often framed as a place of possibility and renewal. Since Trump’s victory, Harry’s rhetoric suggests a more complex stance.

Prince Harry's Praise for Britain

At the same time, Harry's recent comments about Britishness have been more positive than passages in his memoir, which described Britain as emotionally reserved

In a November 2025 essay on British identity, Harry wrote: "Though currently, I may live in the United States, Britain is, and always will be, the country I proudly served and fought for.

"The banter of the mess, the clubhouse, the pub, the stands—ridiculous as it sounds, these are the things that make us British. I make no apology for it. I love it."

The word "currently" in that sentence caught attention at the time with a November 2025 headline in Cosmopolitan reading: "Why Prince Harry's Use of 'Currently' in His Personal Essay Has Royal Aides 'Sweating.'"

All of this has led commentators to speculate that Harry may want to spend more time in Britain. The prince has not said so publicly but if true then there is a major stumbling block he would have to traverse.

Harry says it is not safe for him and his family in Britain unless he gets his Metropolitan Police team reinstated and so far there has been no sign of that happening.

Needless to say, there will be a new opportunity to gauge Harry's relationship with his homeland this summer when he is planning a return to Britain to promote the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham with one year to go.

If anything, his recent comments suggest that the United States has become less a symbol of opportunity and more a subject of scrutiny—while Britain, for all its challenges, has returned to being the emotional core of his public narrative.