Prince Harry’s appearance on Hasan Minhaj’s podcast was a mix of self-aware comedy, soft PR and a little royal intrigue. Minhaj opened by doing what millions of readers did with Spare — pulling out the most memeable bit — and read back the passage where Harry said that, despite being a prince with an official clothing allowance for suits and ceremonial wear, he still went bargain-hunting at TK Maxx for his everyday clothes. Minhaj deadpanned that it sounded “traumatic,” to which Harry leaned in and laughed, saying it was “really hard,” playing along with the idea of a royal slumming it in the discount aisle. It showed what the Sussexes’ team likes to show: Harry can take a joke.
From there, Minhaj pushed him into “how American are you now?” territory. Harry tried on an over-the-top American accent, rattling off lines about ordering breadsticks with ranch at Applebee’s and even joking about a cybertruck, before admitting the most American thing he actually does is surf — though he complained he has “chicken legs” and doesn’t love wearing shorts. At one point he even joked about “knighting” Minhaj if someone could produce a sword, a neat reminder that, even far from the Firm, the royal bits still play.
But the light stuff was wrapped around a message Harry and Meghan have been pounding for years: social media is hurting children faster than governments can regulate it. Harry said platforms are dragging “young men and young boys into very dark places” and that parents don’t see it soon enough, which is why he and Meghan are planning to be “way more cautious” about Archie and Lilibet’s screen and platform access. He tied it to the work they’re doing with parents who’ve seen real-world harm linked to online platforms, arguing that people expect protection from the state, yet tech still operates in a kind of “lawlessness.”
The clearest headline moment came when Minhaj asked about U.S. citizenship. Harry didn’t say yes — but crucially, he didn’t say no. He offered the carefully vague: “There are no plans to be, at this point.” That phrasing sounds deliberate: it keeps the door open to a future where the runaway prince becomes, officially, an American, without detonating things in London today.
All of it sits against a backdrop where the Sussexes are trying to control their narrative after recent bouts of bad press — from being booed at a baseball game to social-media backlash — by showing a relaxed, slightly self-deprecating Harry who can laugh at Spare, sounds engaged on kids’ safety, and looks settled in California life. The podcast did exactly that: it reminded people he’s still royal enough to joke about knighthoods, but American enough to say “yeehaw.” And by refusing to shut down the citizenship idea, he quietly lit the next round of speculation about just how permanent his break from Britain really is.
