Prince Harry made a surprise video appearance at the 17th annual Stand Up for Heroes 2023.
This show raises funds to support members of the armed forces and was held Monday at Lincoln Center in New York City.
The evening featured several stars, comedians Jimmy Carr and Tracy Morgan, musician Bruce Springsteen, actor Tom Hanks among others took the stage.
Prince Harry jokes at Stand Up for Heroes 2023.
The son of King Charles of the United Kingdom made an appearance during the clip for the Stand Up for Heroes show where he joked about having red hair and having a reiki healer.
The Duke of Sussex appeared on the theater’s giant screen dressed in a suit with four British military medals hanging from it: The Afghanistan campaign medal, the Queen’s 2002 Golden Jubilee medal, the Queen’s 2012 Diamond Jubilee medal, and a Queen’s 2022 Platinum Jubilee medal.
The video, which was shot from the garden of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s mansion in Motecito, Calif.
In his virtual speech, Harry poked fun at himself:
“Due to the shockingly low representation of gingers last year, and out of respect for my fellow endangered species, here I am, reporting for duty.
As someone who never gets scrutinised, I haven’t even had to prepare much.
But out of an abundance of caution, I have been working on this particular act for quite some time and everyone I know tells me it’s perfect.
And no, these aren’t people who just tell me what I want to hear, these are people like my finance manager, my lawyer, and of course, my reiki healer.”
Immediately a cough was heard from someone off-camera and Harry gets a script.
He asked: “So, we’re not doing the thing?”, that’s when Harry stopped making jokes and began to earnestly thank those present.
“Thank you for having me to this splendid evening celebrating our incredible veterans.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, service is what happens in the quiet and the chaos.
And whether we are wearing the uniform or not, we must continue to uphold the values we learned side by side on the base, on the drill square and on the battlefield. Values of service, values of honor and integrity and values of togetherness and solidarity.
I know our journeys to this point differ but we are always connected through what we learned as humans, what we faced as families and how we’ve come out stronger because of our ability to listen, to understand, to support one another.”
This appearance of Prince Harry comes after his spokesman denied the Sunday Times, who reported that the Duke had received an invitation to King Charles’ 75th birthday celebration at Clarence House, but he declined.
The Sussexes’ spokesman assured that they have not received any official invitation.
“In response to U.K. media headlines, there has been no contact regarding an invitation to His Majesty’s upcoming birthday. It is disappointing the Sunday Times has misreported this story,”
Undoubtedly, Prince Harry’s appearance at Stand Up for Heroes 2023 was a surprise for those present who were able to see the lighter side of the son of King Charles III.