The Duke of Sussex Prince Harry was reportedly the victim of a prank phone call from a pair of Russian jokesters, in which he described his feelings on a number of issues in a candid way.
Harry believed the call was coming from climate activist Greta Thunberg and her father. In fact, it was from notorious Russian pranksters, Vladimir “Vovan” Krasnov and Alexei “Lexus” Stolyarov.
Among other issues, the prince discussed his and wife Meghan Markle’s decision to leave the Royal life behind them. Harry and Meghan are slated to do so at the end of this month.
“This decision certainly wasn’t the easy one, but it was the right decision for our family, the right decision to be able to protect my son,” Harry said.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
The discussion didn’t steer away from the political, either. Harry and “Greta” discussed a number of items, including his views on President Donald Trump.
Prince Harry says Donald Trump has 'blood on his hands' and is one of the 'sick people' running the world in phone call with hoaxers https://t.co/gRw97gPZXK
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) March 11, 2020
Harry was apparently particularly unnerved by Trump’s deep love of coal.
“The mere fact that Donald Trump is pushing the coal industry so big in America, he has blood on his hands,” Harry said in the phone conversation.
Though he obviously had some complicated feelings for Trump, Harry advised “Greta” to meet with him still if she ever got the chance. “Whether you have an option to meet President Trump or an option to meet [United Kingdom Prime Minister] Boris Johnson, I think I would always,” Harry said.
The climate emergency is also a health emergency, with thousands of avoidable deaths and hospital admissions every year linked to air pollution, which is why the NHS is taking action to reduce carbon emissions https://t.co/qAZdPxQMB5 #democraticpedagogy
— Denis Bellamy (@zygeena) March 4, 2020
Although definitely highly-charged, Harry’s comments about carbon emissions killing people isn’t inaccurate. One study from 2017 found that 9 million people worldwide die as a result of toxic emissions in the atmosphere, including carbon, amounting to 1-in-6 premature deaths around the globe.
A separate study, focusing on the effects of emissions on children, found that air pollution kills 600,000 kids under the age of five annually throughout the world.
Chris Walker is a freelance journalist based in Madison, Wisconsin, who focuses on news, politics, and analysis of world events. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, since 2005 Chris has reported on workers’ rights protests in Wisconsin, opined on four separate presidential elections and written on a number of other political subjects for a variety of national online publications.
