Princess Anne, King Charles’s sister, made a surprise visit to Ukraine, where she met President Zelensky and spent time at a rehabilitation center for injured veterans, inevitably drawing comparisons with Prince Harry’s own visit to the country.
Harry’s trip was largely kept under wraps, and his meetings were not photographed. A reported secret meeting between Harry and Zelensky has not been confirmed.
It was reported that the British government was lukewarm about Harry’s trip due to it clashing with a visit by the U.K.’s home secretary, Yvette Cooper, who inevitably struggled to make the headlines in competition with Harry. British officials also seemed wary of him straying into political territory.
But in Anne’s case, there was no such reticence, with officials making clear that her visit was at the request of and on behalf of the U.K. government. The palace and Ukrainian authorities released photographs of her engagements, including her meeting with Zelensky.
Anne’s presence also underlined the king’s consistent support for Ukraine. Kyiv’s military leadership has stated that were ng Charles’ intervention during the U.S. state visit was “important” in convincing Donald Trump of Ukraine’s chances of success in the war.
That context casts Anne’s appearance in Ukraine as part of a broader royal effort to reinforce Britain’s alignment with Kyiv.
Yet, in what seemed like a pointed rebuke to Harry from the British government, which would have been responsible for scheduling the trip, Anne devoted much of her program to visiting a rehabilitation center, territory many would have assumed to be Harry’s natural domain, given his association with the Invictus Games and his long-term focus on veteran recovery.
She observed therapy sessions, watched disabled veterans work through gym-based exercises, and even visited sensory “salt rooms” designed to help with mental rehabilitation, another cause close to Harry’s heart.
Sources close to Harry told The Royalist that he thought Anne’s trip was “great,” adding, “Anything that shines a light on what is going on in Ukraine is, absolutely, to be welcomed.”
An Invictus source who has worked with Harry concurred, saying, “Anne is fantastic. This cause needs all the help it can get.”
Still, the Foreign Office’s decision to focus Anne’s trip on veterans suggests senior mandarins see a danger in the self-exiled Harry becoming a de facto spokesperson for the U.K. on the issue.
While the government typically masterminds the schedule for such trips, it does so in collaboration with the visiting royal. Anne’s visit clearly demonstrates that the palace is not prepared to leave the veterans’ space entirely to Harry, however much he has achieved with Invictus.
One of Invictus’s great strengths, of course, was that it was seen as largely apolitical.
Harry risks damaging his reputation if he treads too closely to frontline political matters.
He knows this, of course, which is why the more sensitive parts of his Ukraine trip (such as his meeting with Zelensky) were kept hushed and ambiguous, while Anne’s was confident, public, and firmly within the safe zone of royal duty.
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