Prince Harry has come under renewed scrutiny after making a surprise appearance at a London film premiere alongside his longtime friend, photographer Misan Harriman, whose recent resignation as chair of the Southbank Centre followed controversy over his social media activity.
The 41-year-old Duke of Sussex attended the premiere of Harriman’s documentary, Shoot The People, at Picturehouse Central in London’s Piccadilly Circus on Monday evening, just hours after arriving in Britain ahead of a busy week of engagements.
Photographs from the event showed Harry smiling alongside Harriman, filmmaker Andy Mundy-Castle and British writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch.
Harry’s spokesperson, Liam Maguire, confirmed to People that the Duke attended the screening to “support his good friend Misan and his brilliant new film.”
Harriman has maintained a close friendship with both Harry and Meghan Markle for years and famously photographed the couple’s pregnancy announcement in 2021, when they revealed they were expecting their second child.
However, Harry’s decision to attend the premiere has generated criticism online, with much of the reaction focusing on Harriman’s “Anti-Apartheid Club” T-shirt.
The Anti-Apartheid Club is a grassroots fashion and merchandise brand that supports Palestinian liberation and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
The movement argues Israel operates an apartheid system against Palestinians, an allegation rejected by the Israeli government.
The appearance also drew attention because Harriman recently announced he would step down as chair of London’s Southbank Centre later this year following controversy surrounding several social media posts, first reported by The Telegraph.
Among the posts criticised were claims that British news outlets had failed to report on a Muslim victim during coverage of attacks in Golders Green, north London.
Harriman also faced criticism after reposting a claim alleging that US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, who are Jewish, were “selling off the Albanian coastline to Jewish billionaires and [an] Israeli military project”.
Earlier this year, he was also accused by critics of comparing Reform UK’s local election success with the Holocaust.
The British-Nigerian photographer has denied any allegations of antisemitism.
He stated that his decision to resign as the chair of the Southbank Centre was made prior to the controversy regarding his social media activity and that he had informed the board of his plans earlier this year.
Royal commentator Tom Sykes argued Harry’s appearance alongside Harriman was ill-timed given his own recent comments condemning antisemitism.
Writing in his The Royalist Substack newsletter on Tuesday, Sykes said: “You might have thought that Prince Harry, on night one of his big reconciliation-era return to Britain, wouldn’t have wanted to make the wrong kind of news.
“Instead, the Duke of Sussex chose to spend his first evening in London at a Piccadilly Circus film premiere being photographed alongside Misan Harriman, the super-woke Southbank Centre chairman who is stepping down early from one of the biggest arts jobs in the country amid an antisemitism row.”
Sykes highlighted the fact that Harry had only recently written in the New Statesman about what he described as the “deeply troubling” rise in antisemitism in Britain, warning it had led to “lethal violence” against members of the Jewish community.
Sykes added: “For Harriman, one of the most image-literate activists in Britain, to dress for the biggest photo call of his year in an anti-Israeli t-shirt is completely consistent with his brand.
“But for Harry, the author of a recent essay on the dangerous conflation of anti-Israel sentiment and anti-Jewish hatred, to stand beside him for pictures while he is wearing that is a special kind of stoooooopid.”
Journalist Nicole Lampert also weighed in on X, writing: “As if Prince Harry’s visit home to the UK wasn’t controversial enough, his first visit was to support photographer friend Misan Harriman.
“Harriman recently announced he was standing down as chair of the Southbank Centre after controversy over alleged antisemitism and putting his politics front and centre.”
Others, however, defended the Duke online, with one X user writing: “Oh please, leave him alone!”
Another added: “How awesome! So good to learn of this. So good to see Prince Harry and Misan Harriman together, looking happy.”
Harry’s appearance at the premiere came ahead of a busy week of engagements centred on the Invictus Games One Year to Go celebrations in Birmingham on Wednesday.
His visit has already attracted significant attention after Meghan Markle, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet did not join him in the UK, with security concerns again cited as the reason.
It remains unclear whether they will join Harry later during the trip.
Last week, reports emerged that the Sussexes had submitted further evidence to the UK’s Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC) outlining what they say are ongoing security threats.
According to documents first reported by ITV, Harry’s submission states he has faced “at least” six terrorist threats from “jihadist and right-wing threat actors that have targeted other high-profile Britons.”
Harry lost his automatic entitlement to taxpayer-funded police protection after he and Meghan stepped back as working members of the royal family in 2020 and relocated to the United States.
It is understood the Duke was accompanied by his own privately funded security team while attending Harriman’s film premiere.