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Harry served 10 years, Trump served none: Who's more qualified to speak on war?
Apr 25, 2026
Donald Trump has said the Duke of Sussex “is not speaking for the UK” after Harry told the US to honour its obligations in the Ukrainian conflict. 0:00 | Matthew reacts to the Prince Harry's speech 2:28 | Trump takes a swipe at Meghan and Harry 3:40 | Sam Fishwick is conflicted over Harry's comments 7:30 | Ukrainian security adviser defends Harry's speech Responding to the speech Harry made during a surprise visit to Ukraine, the US president told reporters: “I know one thing, Prince Harry is not speaking for the UK, that’s for sure. I think I am speaking for the UK more than Prince Harry.” “But I appreciate his advice very much,” he added. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #matthewwright #princeharry #donaldtrump #trump #harryandmeghan #ukraine #iran #war #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
Harry has many critics
0:02
It's a good grift, isn't it, picking on the guy who darest suggest Britain's first family is less than perfect
0:07
But I doubt there's anyone listening today who's done more for injured servicemen and women than Harry has
0:14
And then on the other side of this row, we have Donald Trump, who dodged the Vietnam draft not once, not twice, three, four, but five times
0:21
A man who's never served in battle, but has created battlefields in which decent, upstanding men and women die
0:26
and whose cuts saw, I think it's 28,000 veterans workers axed in the first wave
0:33
The focus of the current row is the ongoing war in Ukraine, which President Donald Trump assured voters on the campaign trail
0:39
will be ended on day one of his presidency. He's already well into his second year
0:43
and the war shows no sign of ending any time soon. Perhaps because Donald Trump isn't truly focused on peace in Ukraine
0:52
endlessly distracted as he is by mineral deals and snatching presidents from other sovereign nations
0:56
and trading their oil. Anyway, our Harry had plenty to say about the US of A
1:01
bringing up issues that his father Charles couldn't possibly publicly discuss because he's king
1:07
And chief among them, or the one I suspect that riled Trump the most, was the prince's reference to the Budapest memorandum
1:13
that saw Ukraine surrender its nuclear arsenal, the third largest in the world at the time
1:19
We must be absolutely clear about the nature of this war. this is not an accident nor a misunderstanding and nor the inevitable fog of conflict
1:28
it is the product of sustained deliberate policy planned executed and defended at the highest levels
1:37
i say love him or hate him and i would argue that it'd be difficult to find fault with
1:43
much of his speech i listened to the whole thing 15 minutes and i do want to give credit to lbc
1:48
callers who right at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine back in 2022
1:53
were telling me about the Budapest memorandum and how pivotal the ignoring it was
2:01
So well done to those callers. Ukraine had given up its nuclear weapons on the basis of an explicit Russian assurance
2:08
of its territorial integrity. And of course, by breaching that assurance, Putin has opened the door for every other
2:14
alliance and accord to be breached as well. and even allegations of war crimes these days
2:18
seem to be broadly ignored when it suits. As for a response, Trump obviously failed to engage
2:23
with any of the substance of Harry's speech, and instead, no, instead, he came back with this
2:28
Prince Harry? Yes, sir. How's he doing? How's his wife? Please give her my regards, OK
2:34
No, I don't know. I think, I know one thing, Prince Harry is not speaking for the UK that for sure I think I speaking for the UK more than Prince Harry I not sure that true Donald Trump has been consistently unpopular with most Brits in his second term
2:51
His high point in terms of popularity so far was around the time of the trade agreement and state visit last year
2:57
when he was at a lofty minus 50. Trump was about minus 70 last time I looked
3:03
And what's more, Harry went to some lengths to explain at that Kiev security conference, that he wasn't there as a politician
3:08
he wasn't representing anyone. He was there as a soldier. But what Harry said about the Budapest memoranda
3:15
it needed saying, didn't it? 0345 6060 973 is the number. Even if the US maintains it was never legally binding
3:23
the spirit of that agreement to support Ukraine in exchange for giving up its nukes
3:28
that cannot be disputed, or can it? 0345 6060 973, the number
3:33
Now, in a moment, I'll be catching up with an advisor to the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre, Megan Gittos
3:39
But first I'm joined by Sam Fishwick, Voices Editor at The Independent
3:43
who wrote a piece about Harry's visit that I think was very fair
3:49
You paint him in part as a dilettante, but also as someone with something very important to say
3:55
Yes, hi, Matthew, and I agree with you. I think clearly Harry
4:01
who has been invited to Ukraine three times now, is someone the Ukrainian see as an asset
4:07
He keeps getting invited back. And I think we can recognise that one thing he's incredibly good at
4:13
is pulling the world's attention towards him. What he had to say is incredibly important
4:19
The man is gifted when it comes to pulling focus, and particularly at a time when the world's eyes are on the Middle East
4:26
That was clearly the import of this. Trump's response, what did you make of that
4:34
Catty, I mean, this is a man who could sort of start an argument in an empty room
4:39
clearly is easily riled by what seems to be a perfectly sensible effort
4:47
by Prince Harry to remind the United States of its obligations. Do you get the feeling, and this is, I guess, what I'm most interested in hearing from you
4:57
because I think you and I probably have quite similar views to Harry, but the freedom that he enjoys to speak now
5:05
is a freedom he would never have had if he remained closely tied to the House of Windsor here in the UK
5:12
it would just be, it would go against all protocol does hearing him speak as he did so passionately as a soldier does that compensate and perhaps offset as much of the injury that perhaps people perceive he done to his family Although of course he would argue it injury that his family has done to him
5:34
I think the substance of what Harry says when we stop and listen to him
5:38
when we move beneath the cloud of froth and irritation that he seems to provoke
5:46
is usually pretty sound. he is free to speak I mean whether Harry should be speaking on behalf of the United Kingdom
5:55
is fairly moot in this case Donald Trump is wrong to suggest he was he was invited to speak on behalf of Ukraine
6:00
that's what he was doing and he goes out of his way to say
6:06
I'm not speaking as a politician he's speaking as a soldier the trip to Australia was not a royal trip
6:13
he's working through a list of things that he is not one thing he is is a gifted public speaker
6:18
and this is a subject he clearly talks strongly on. I don't want to get too distracted by the royal family
6:25
because I really couldn't give a monkey to about them but do we think that this version of Harry
6:33
could be welcomed back into the fold, that there are bigger things for the royal family to talk about
6:40
to represent than their interneasine squabbles? i i suspect it's one of the naughtiest questions i mean i'm sure it will come up on the uh king's
6:52
visit next week behind closed doors i mean as i think i said in my column donald trump is a man
6:57
who if he loves one thing loves a gossip it seems to me tremendously hard uh to put what has been
7:04
said to bed um it's clearly something harry feels strongly about last time he was in ukraine
7:10
He talked about wanting to bury the hatchet this year. He talked about wanting to put things right
7:16
That hasn't happened. I think the problem is, Matthew, is it still remains a possibility and a possibility only
7:25
Sam Fishwick, pleasure talking to you. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article in The Independent
7:29
Excellent piece. Bringing in Megan Gittos now, advisor to the Uranian Security and Cooperation Centre in Kyiv
7:35
Good morning to you, Megan. and we had a Sean Penn last month swerving the Oscars and getting a magnificent Oscar statuette
7:43
from the people of Ukraine made from metal that had been blown up by the Russian wonderful
7:49
a wonderful gift and and Harry in many ways has done something similar hasn't he's pulled focus
7:55
on the issue of Ukraine which I suspect Donald Trump would rather talk about almost anything else
7:59
Yeah so I of course spend a lot of time in Ukraine and it genuinely harrowing So I not disappointed we having this conversation right now but I disappointed in the royal soap opera that come into it as it sometimes
8:16
always does. I could talk to you for a long time about the atrocities that are happening on
8:21
civilians, especially in occupation right now. I won't because you thankfully did that. But when I
8:27
come back from Ukraine, people, it's becoming more frequent now that people say to me, oh
8:32
is the war still going on there. And it tells you just how far that Ukraine has slipped down the news agenda
8:41
Global attention, as it always does, has drifted onto other things. But this is now on the front page again
8:48
And he's there, as you say. He's not there as a constitutional figure
8:52
He's there talking about rehabilitation for veterans and mine clearance work. His mother did with the Halo Trust as well
9:02
And Britain sometimes has short memory. We speak very fondly of Diana now
9:08
Of course we do. But at the time, she was also ridiculed for that advocacy
9:12
with the Halo Trust as well. So we see the son carrying out his mother's work
9:20
pulling attention towards Ukraine. What did you make of Donald Trump's response
9:25
He didn't engage with any of the substance of Prince Harry's speech. Not a word of it
9:31
No. And thank you again, because you actually made a lot of my points
9:35
Harry served 10 years in the British Army. He is an expert on rehabilitation for soldiers having set up the Invictus Games
9:44
Donald Trump's comments, I think he is very disappointed he wasn't able to end the war
9:50
I think Russia has surprised even him. Maybe. Russia hasn't surprised anyone else
9:54
um harry harry is well within his rights to call out the breaking of uh this treaty and it's well
10:04
within the bounds of legitimate advocacy there's many things donald trump could have said but just
10:09
didn't chose not to um and this treaty that happened in the 90s of course didn't even happen
10:17
under him if he wanted to say that he could have the fact he felt to go um of this catty response
10:24
as was just said, I think says a lot. Megan Gittos, pleasure talking to you
10:29
Keep bearing up out there because I can't imagine how hard it is. Megan there, advisor to the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre in Kiev
10:38
It's interesting because I know how he's such a divisive figure and I just wonder, out of the Harry haters there
10:43
whether his speech has made you reassess your opinion of this young man
10:48
Maybe not. 0-345-6060-973, the number
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