Prince Harry took a playful swipe at American politics during a surprise appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, slipping in a pointed joke about President Donald Trump and nodding to the legal drama between the White House and CBS.
The Duke of Sussex, 41, popped into the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City on Wednesday, Dec. 3, after Colbert delivered a humorous rant about the boom in “problematic” royal-themed Christmas movies.
Strolling onto the stage, Harry joked that he had gotten lost while looking for an audition for a fictional film called The Gingerbread Christmas Prince Saves Christmas in Nebraska. When Colbert questioned why an actual prince would audition for a Hallmark-style movie, Harry quipped, “You Americans are obsessed with Christmas movies and you’re clearly obsessed with royalty, so why not?”
Colbert, 61, pushed back on the idea that Americans are fixated on royalty, giving Harry the setup for his sharpest line of the night: “Really? I hear you elected a king.”
The joke was a clear reference to the political controversy surrounding Trump this year. In February, Trump referred to himself with a royal-style title in a Truth Social post. Shortly afterward, the official White House Instagram account shared a spoof Time magazine cover showing Trump in a crown with the headline “Long live the king.”
The imagery and rhetoric helped spark the “No Kings” movement, whose supporters have criticized what they see as antidemocratic policies and authoritarian overreach. Demonstrators organized protests on June 14 — timed to Trump’s birthday and a Washington, D.C., parade marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army — and again on Oct. 18, during the government shutdown.
As the Late Show bit continued, Harry doubled down on his faux determination to land a Christmas movie role, joking about the lengths he’d go to be cast. “I’ll record a self-tape, I’ll fly myself to an audition, settle a baseless lawsuit with the White House — all the things you people in TV do.”
“Hey, I didn’t do any of those things,” Colbert replied.
“Maybe that’s why you’re canceled,” Harry fired back.
The audience quickly caught the reference: a wink at the reported $16 million settlement CBS reached with Trump in July over claims that the network deceptively edited a 2024 interview with his presidential opponent, Kamala Harris. Colbert publicly criticized CBS on The Late Show for agreeing to such a large payout. Just three days after his on-air comments, the network announced that The Late Show would end, citing “financial reasons” and broader cost-cutting at Paramount.
Harry’s recent cameo marked his second time on Colbert’s show. His first visit, in January 2023 while promoting his memoir Spare, drew the program’s biggest audience in two years and generated headlines around the world.
Despite the playful political jabs this time, Harry has previously stressed that he does not align himself with any political party in the United States. Speaking at the Upfront Summit in Los Angeles in February, he told attendees he was “not on the left or right,” adding, “I’ve never even been allowed to vote!”
While avoiding specific endorsements or criticism of individual politicians, he did speak more broadly about the dangers of self-serving leadership.
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“Now this would be a great time to talk about how a sickness in leadership across sectors — politics to tech — can have a detrimental effect on millions, if not billions, of people,” he said. “When service to others is sacrificed for personal gain. When basic morals and empathy are abandoned in favor of power and control. But I’m not gonna get into all that now.”
Trump, 79, and Harry have crossed paths before, including during Trump’s first visit with the royal family in 2019. Trump has repeatedly praised the late Queen Elizabeth and, more recently, called King Charles a “remarkable” leader after returning to the U.K. in September.
His comments about Meghan Markle have been far less warm. Earlier this year, as Harry faced scrutiny over whether disclosures in Spare about past drug use should have affected his U.S. visa status, Trump said he had no intention of seeking Harry’s removal from the country — but used the moment to criticize Meghan.
“I don’t want to do that. I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife,” Trump told The New York Post in February. “She’s terrible.”
