Prince Harry has declared he will “always be part of the Royal Family”.
As he continued a high-profile visit to Ukraine, the Duke of Sussex, 41, who last saw his father King Charles last year, also insisted he will not be “gagged” in his efforts to speak out on global conflicts.
Harry travelled to Ukraine this week for a series of engagements supporting communities affected by the war, including a visit to Bucha alongside his charity The HALO Trust.
During the trip, Harry spoke to ITV News about criticism of his continued international work despite stepping back as a working royal in 2020 and relocating to California.
Harry, who remains estranged from his brother Prince William, 43, and sister-in-law Catherine Princess of Wales, 44, has maintained limited contact with his father King Charles III, 77, including a private meeting last year.
Harry said: “I will always be a part of the Royal Family, and I’m here working doing the very thing I was born to do.”
He added: “We need to feel empowered to speak truth to power”, and said he would not be “gagged” by critics of his work.
During his visit, Harry walked through a minefield area in Bucha, echoing the actions of his late mother Princess Diana, who undertook a similar visit in Angola in 1997.
Speaking about the work of the Halo Trust, Harry said: “What Halo Trust is doing is absolutely incredible work. It’s sad, it’s very, very sad because nearly 30 years ago, my mother was in Angola, here we are again in a new conflict.”
He also highlighted the long-term impact of the war and the scale of the recovery effort required.
Harry said: “The clean-up that is going to be needed here will go well into the next two, three, even four decades.”
At the Kyiv Security Forum, Harry addressed the ongoing conflict directly, calling on Vladimir Putin to end the war.
He said: “President Putin, no nation benefits from the continued loss of life we are witnessing.
“There is still a moment – now – to stop this war, to prevent further suffering for Ukrainians and Russians alike, and to choose a different course.”
He also condemned what he described as widespread abuses.
Harry said: “Across occupied territories, there is mounting, documented evidence of systematic war crimes: deliberate attacks on civilians, mass killings, torture, sexual violence, and the forced deportation of entire populations.
“Under international law, the forcible transfer of children from one national group to another is not just a war crime – it can constitute an act of genocide when carried out with intent to destroy a people’s identity. This is not collateral damage. This is not the chaos of war spilling over. This is organised, systematic, intentional, and designed to endure long after the fighting stops.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source uk.news.yahoo.com ’
