Prince Harry has laughed off ‘stuff in the news’ after a TV interviewer said he did not want to talk about his uncle Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and the crisis engulfing the Royal Family.
The Duke of Sussex is on a pseudo-royal tour in Jordan with wife Meghan amid the ongoing fall-out over the arrest of Andrew on suspicion of misconduct in public office last week.
And during an interview with Channel 4 about aid in Gaza alongside World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the troubles in Harry’s family were brought up.
The interview began: ‘I understand you don’t wish to talk about your family, your uncle, things back in London, you’re here because you don’t want to distract from the work you’re doing on the WHO and on Gaza.’
Harry was then asked about the current situation in Gaza 16 months after the conflict broke out but seemed to insert a remark about Andrew’s arrest.
He said with a wry laugh: ‘There is a lot of stuff in the news. It goes at an incredible pace and what’s been happening in that region has been going on for a long time and it drops out of the news.
‘So I think it was a really important time for us to collaborate and come here and shine a light and focus on the very real humanitarian catastrophe that has happened and continues.’
It was the first reference Harry has made to his disgraced uncle since he was arrested after being accused of leaking secrets to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein while serving as the UK’s trade envoy.
He was released under investigation after 11 hours in custody and police last night confirmed they had concluded searches of his former Windsor mansion, Royal Lodge.
Andrew has been spotted just once since his arrest, in a damning photograph of him being driven out of a Norfolk police station last Thursday.
MPs on Tuesday backed a motion from the Liberal Democrats calling for the release of documents on Andrew’s appointment as a UK trade envoy in 2001.
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Harry and Meghan ‘snubbed’ by Jordan’s royal family
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Trade minister Chris Bryant condemned the former prince’s ‘self-aggrandisement’, saying he was constantly engaged in a ‘self-enriching hustle’.
Ministers signalled they would not stand in the way of the move to shed light on a role that led to the royal being dubbed ‘Air Miles Andy’ due to frequent taxpayer-funded trips abroad.
As a result the measure was ‘nodded through’ the chamber on Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Harry has carefully kept himself distant from the crisis surrounding his family during a whistle-stop pseudo-royal tour of the Middle East where he has been visiting victims of conflict and illness.
But he suffered a blow this week after he was seemingly snubbed by the King and Crown Prince of Jordan.
He and Meghan landed in the capital, Amman, late on Tuesday night for a royal-style tour and within hours began a series of humanitarian visits to various charity organisations – providing countless photo opportunities.
This included an event at the British Ambassador’s residence with WHO officials and Embassy staff on Wednesday that has been branded ‘entirely inappropriate’ by critics.
And on Thursday the Sussexes visited a rehab centre in Amman, where the Duchess of Sussex opted for high-street style over haute couture, wearing a £109 jacket from Zara.
The current king of Jordan, Abdullah II, has strong ties to the British Royal Family and is close to King Charles – having met him on an official visit to London last year where they were pictured warmly greeting each other.
Their relationship is so close that King Abdullah and his wife Queen Rania were special VVIP guests at the coronation. Queen Rania also had several meetings with Queen Camilla to discuss women’s issues.
