Prince Harry made the comments during his Ukraine visit and defended his charity work as a non working royal.Charlotte Foster and Ambarish Awale Trainee Trends, Showbiz and Lifestyle Writer
19:18, 24 Apr 2026
Prince Harry said he will always be part of the Royal Family despite leaving royal duties in 2020.(Image: Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Prince Harry has declared he will “always be a part of the Royal Family” despite stepping back from royal duties in 2020 and remaining distant from several relatives in Britain.
The Duke of Sussex made the remarks during a visit to Ukraine, where he is carrying out a series of engagements in support of communities affected by the war. Harry also responded to criticism over his continued international charity work as a non working royal, Mirror reported.
Speaking to ITV News, he defended his decision to remain active on global issues and said he would not be silenced by opponents.
He said: “I will always be a part of the Royal Family, and I’m here working doing the very thing I was born to do.”
Harry also said that “we need to feel empowered to speak truth to power”, adding that he would not be “gagged” by critics. He praised the value of travelling to areas in need and building relationships with those directly affected by conflict.
Prince Harry made the comments during a visit to Ukraine(Image: Genya Savilov / AFP via Getty Images)
While Harry spoke warmly about his family, relations remain strained with some senior royals. He has been estranged from the Prince and Princess of Wales following claims made in his memoir Spare, which deepened tensions between the brothers.
His contact with King Charles has also been limited since moving to California with wife Meghan in 2020. However, the Duke has met his father on several occasions, most recently for a private tea at Clarence House during a UK visit for the WellChild Awards in September 2025.
During his latest trip, Harry visited Bucha with the Halo Trust, the charity focused on clearing landmines and unexploded ordnance. The city became known globally after the killing of hundreds of civilians and prisoners of war during Russia’s withdrawal in April 2022.
Wearing protective equipment, Harry walked through a mined area in scenes that echoed the famous visit by his mother Princess Diana to Angola in 1997, when she highlighted the human cost of landmines.
Speaking about the comparison, Harry said: “What Halo Trust is doing is absolutely incredible work. It’s sad, it’s very, very sad because nearly 30 years ago, my mother was in Angola, here we are again in a new conflict.”
He also viewed new technology being used in clearance operations, including a robotic dog named Spot and AI powered drones controlled remotely with virtual reality headsets.
Harry said the scale of recovery would take decades.
“The clean-up that is going to be needed here will go well into the next two, three, even four decades.”
The Duke arrived in Ukraine on Thursday and also addressed the Kyiv Security Forum, where he delivered a direct message to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He said: “President Putin, no nation benefits from the continued loss of life we are witnessing.
“There is still a moment – now – to stop this war, to prevent further suffering for Ukrainians and Russians alike, and to choose a different course.”
Harry also condemned what he described as widespread abuses in occupied territories.
He said: “Across occupied territories, there is mounting, documented evidence of systematic war crimes: deliberate attacks on civilians, mass killings, torture, sexual violence, and the forced deportation of entire populations.
“Under international law, the forcible transfer of children from one national group to another is not just a war crime – it can constitute an act of genocide when carried out with intent to destroy a people’s identity. This is not collateral damage. This is not the chaos of war spilling over. This is organised, systematic, intentional, and designed to endure long after the fighting stops.”