Piers Morgan blasts Prince Harry for missing Royal Marines memorial to tout Meghan Markle at Disney’s Lion King premiere
PIERS Morgan has blasted Prince Harry for missing a Royal Marines memorial to tout Meghan Markle at the Disney's Lion King premiere.
The 35-year-old, who is Captain General of the Royal Marines, skipped the event in July last year that paid tribute to the 11 servicemen killed by the IRA in Deal, Kent, in 1989.
He was instead later pictured on the same day at the premiere in London alongside celebrities including Beyonce and Jay Z.
The Duke of Sussex was even filmed quietly telling Bob Iger, the head of Disney, his wife was "really interested" in voiceover work.
Touting his former actress spouse at the event, he told the Disney bigwig: "Do you know she does voiceovers?"
Iger can be heard replying: "We'd love to try. That's a great idea".
The royal was blasted by Piers Morgan for turning up to the glitzy event.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain today, the host said: "Harry was invited as the Captain General of the Royal Marines to go to the anniversary memorial for when a lot of Royal Marines were killed by the IRA in Deal in Kent.
"But he said 'no' because instead he went to a Disney premiere for Lion King with Meghan.
"So the Captain General of the Royal Marines, rather than attending the most important memorial they have each year, rather than being where he should have been doing his duty, he's hustling his wife's movie voiceover business to the head of Disney.
"This is just brazen hustling by a member of the Royal Family to a senior boss of a major entertainment company trying to get his wife voiceover business on the same day he should've been with the Royal Marines in his capacity as the Captain General.
"I'm sorry, it's just not acceptable. Now they want to have their cake and eat it."
This week it emerged the former Suits star has signed a deal with Disney in return for a donation to a wildlife charity.
The Duchess of Sussex will do the voiceover to help fund Elephants Without Borders, an organisation that helps to track and protect the animals from poaching.
MEMORIAL FOR THOSE FALLEN
It was later claimed that after the meeting, Beyonce and Jay Z had wanted to go on holidays with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
However nervous aides turned it down, fearing it would be seen as too ostentatious.
A spokeswoman from Buckingham Palace said in August: "The Duke's diary is set a number of months in advance and on this occasion he was unable to attend the memorial concert."
This is just brazen hustling by a member of the Royal Family
Piers Morgan
The event marked the 30th anniversary that the fatal IRA attack unfolded - killing 11 and injuring 21 Royal Marines on September 22, 1989.
The blast destroyed the recreational centre at the Deal barracks, trapping a number in the rubble for hours.
The Sun Online has contacted the Palace for an additional comment.
Harry and Meghan last night got their way at the Royal Family's crisis summit at Sandringham - leaving the royal family to live in Canada and become financially independent.
And while the Queen stressed the importance of family in a strikingly personal statement, Prince William was seen driving out of the Norfolk estate separately from Harry yesterday.
Last night it was revealed William and Harry's relationship is “tense and deeply damaged” following a series of furious rows.
The brothers’ bond has not recovered since a falling-out just before the two families appeared together in public with baby Archie for the first time last year.
They were all pictured at the King Power Royal Charity Polo Day — in which William and Harry both played — held at Billingbear Polo Club in Berkshire in July 2019.