Trump risks new rift with Prince Harry after ‘belittling’ one of royal’s favorite countries

President Donald Trump has risked a new rift with Prince Harry after slamming one of the royal’s favorite African countries: Lesotho.

The president’s insult came during his joint address to Congress on Tuesday night, when he was giving a list of programs he’s cut off from American financial aid in order to bring down the federal deficit.

‘Eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of,’ Trump said as some Republican lawmakers laughed.

The Duke of Sussex, who lives in California with wife Meghan Markle and their two children, co-founded the charity, Sentebale, to support children in Lesotho who live in extreme poverty or suffer from HIV/AIDS.

Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso of Lesotho, who co-founded the charity with Prince Harry, is referred to as one of the prince’s good friends. 

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hands an invitation from King Charles III for a second state visit to President Donald Trump

Trump issued a threat to Harry last year, saying if the prince had lied on his visa application about drug-taking he would seek to take ‘appropriate action.’ 

Sources close to the Duke have previously indicated that he answered truthfully on his visa application.

The president later stepped back from that threat, saying he would not seek to deport the Harry after all.

‘I don’t want to do that,’ Trump told the New York Post earlier this month.  ‘I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.’ 

The president has made no secret of the fact he dislikes Meghan Markle but he has expressed his fondness for King Charles, hinting it’s his affection for the prince’s father that has kept Harry safe from his wrath.

‘Having [Harry] back in the UK is actually harder than having him kept away in the USA,’ a source told the Post. 

The King personally invited Trump to make a state visit to the UK later this year, a rare second invite for an American president. Trump made a state visit in his first term when Queen Elizabeth II was on the throne. 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer personally delivered the letter from the King at a meeting with the Trump in the Oval Office.

Trump waved the letter around in front of the cameras and grandly accepted the invitation. 

For his part, Prince Harry appeared to take a swipe at the president and Elon Musk soon after the king extended the invite.

In a surprise appearance at the Upfront Summit in Los Angeles last week, Harry talked about how billions of people were experiencing the ‘detrimental effect’ when ‘basic morals and empathy are abandoned in favor of power and control’.

He said: ‘Now this would be a great time to talk about how a sickness in leadership across sectors – from politics to tech – can have a detrimental effect on millions, if not billions, of people. 

‘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!’ 

Harry did not specify the target of his criticism and he has previously appeared to make similarly subtle criticisms of a string of other public figures.  

This includes calling for ‘those with positions of influence’ to help tackle ‘misinformation’ on social media during far-right riots in the UK, which some took as an attack on Musk, the owner of X.

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, during the 2025 Invictus Games earlier this month 

Earlier this month Harry used the opening of the Invictus Games to complain about the ‘lack of weak moral character in the world ‘. 

Hours before those comments, Trump had called Meghan ‘terrible’.   

Trump has never hidden his dislike of the Duchess of Sussex, who supported Joe Biden and branded Trump ‘divisive and misogynistic’ in a 2016 interview. 

He has also claimed that ‘Harry is whipped’ and ‘is being led around by his nose’.

Meanwhile, Lesotho’s government said it was shocked Trump said that ‘nobody has ever heard of’ the southern African nation.

Following Trump’s comments Lejone Mpotjoane, Lesotho’s foreign minister, told the Associated Press: ‘It is surprising and disappointing that he claimed no one knows Lesotho, especially given that the U.S. has an embassy here. One day America may need Lesotho’s support.’

He also told The Times: ‘It is belittling to talk about another country like that and it should not happen.’