Prince Harry’s Almost-Kiss With Stephen Colbert Is Peak Holiday Camp

The Moment

Prince Harry is apparently done pretending to be the serious, brooding exile for 2025. On Wednesday night, he popped up unannounced on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and nearly kissed the host in the middle of a send-up of cheesy TV Christmas movies.

Stephen Colbert, 61, opened his show with a bit about how every holiday movie now involves an American finding love with a prince or princess. Just as he was rolling his eyes at the fantasy, in walked an actual one: Harry, 41, striding onstage like he’d taken a wrong turn at the North Pole.

Harry deadpanned that he thought he was there to audition for a very real sounding fake movie: “The Gingerbread Prince Saves Christmas in Nebraska.” From there, the two slipped into full Hallmark parody. Harry asked what a real-life royal had to do to get into a holiday movie, and Colbert jokingly grilled him about knowing any famous TV actresses.

Harry’s answer, of course: “I might know one,” a wink at wife Meghan Markle, the former Suits star. He piled on with a line about doing “anything” to get cast – including settling “a baseless lawsuit with the White House … all the things you people in TV do!”

When Colbert protested that he’d never done such things, Harry shot back, “Maybe that’s why you’re canceled.” (Colbert’s show is in its final season, so the joke landed extra sharp.)

Then the set morphed into full holiday fantasy: evergreen trees, falling fake snow, the whole winter-wonderland starter pack. Harry and Colbert grabbed each other’s faces and leaned in until they were this close to kissing – the exact slow-mo moment you get right before the big smooch in every made-for-TV romance.

Instead of locking lips, Colbert crowned him the show’s official “prince of Christmas.” Harry later pulled a political grenade, joking that Americans once “elected a king,” a direct shot at former President Donald Trump that drew boos and nervous laughter from the audience.

The Take

Here’s what I see: Harry has fully accepted that he’s never going back to being the stiff-upper-lip spare. He’s a California content guy now – and he knows comedy might be the safest way to exist in public while the world still argues about him.

The almost-kiss with Colbert is pure camp. It’s also clever image rehab. For years, royal watchers painted Harry as either tragic or treacherous. Now he’s positioning himself as something far less threatening: the goofy, self-aware prince who’s in on the joke. It’s the PR version of putting on an ugly Christmas sweater and saying, “Relax, I’m fun.”

The Hallmark-movie parody is doing double duty. On the surface, it’s holiday fluff. Underneath, it jabs at the fantasy people still project onto royals – the same fantasy that turned his relationship with Meghan into global fan fiction and then, frankly, into a war. By mocking those movies, he’s also mocking the fairy tale people tried to write for him.

And then there’s the Trump line. You don’t joke that Americans “elected a king” unless you’re comfortable being seen as political. That’s a big leap from the old royal rule of staying silent on party politics. But Harry hasn’t been a working royal since 2020, and this is very much a blue-state late-night crowd. He’s playing to his base now, not to the balcony at Buckingham Palace.

Is he chasing the spotlight? Absolutely. You don’t wander onto a late-night stage, work an almost-kiss, and riff about lawsuits and canceled shows if you’re craving privacy. But it’s a different kind of spotlight than the one he left behind: less palace balcony, more streaming-era jester. Harry feels like that cousin who quit the family business, moved to California, and now comes home for the holidays with wild stories and a podcast.

Whether you find it charming or exhausting probably depends on how tired you are of Sussex headlines. But as a piece of pop culture, this sketch says one clear thing: Harry isn’t trying to walk back into the royal script. He’s trying to write himself into a holiday one – even if it’s fake snow and a fake kiss.

Receipts

Confirmed:

• Harry made a surprise appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert during a Christmas-movie parody sketch, as seen in the show’s official broadcast clip on its verified YouTube channel posted in early December 2025.
• In the bit, Harry joked about auditioning for “The Gingerbread Prince Saves Christmas in Nebraska” and teased that he “might know” a famous TV actress, a clear reference to Meghan Markle.
• He quipped he’d “do anything” to get into a Hallmark-style movie, including settling “a baseless lawsuit with the White House,” and told Colbert, “Maybe that’s why you’re canceled,” when the host denied doing such things.
• The set transformed into a snowy holiday backdrop, and Harry and Colbert grabbed each other’s faces and leaned in for an exaggerated almost-kiss, as shown in still photos and a short clip on the show’s verified Instagram account.
• Colbert jokingly dubbed him the official “prince of Christmas” for the show.
• Harry made a crack that Americans “elected a king,” referencing Donald Trump, which drew a mix of boos and reaction from the studio audience.

Prince Harry nearly kisses Stephen Colbert in hysterical ‘Late Show’ skit https://t.co/nxXhWTJYi9 pic.twitter.com/6CFzH3fMMe

— Page Six (@PageSix) December 4, 2025

Unverified / Context:

• There is no confirmed deal for Harry to star in an actual Hallmark or holiday movie; within the sketch, the movie pitch was clearly presented as a joke.
• Any assumptions about how the British royal family privately feels about the sketch are speculation; the palace typically does not comment on comedy segments.

Backstory (For Casual Readers)

If you’ve only half-watched the Harry and Meghan saga from a distance, here’s the quick refresher. Prince Harry, younger son of King Charles III, stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and moved to California with Meghan Markle, an American actress best known for Suits. Since then, they’ve launched media projects including a Netflix docuseries and Harry’s 2023 memoir, Spare, which pulled back the curtain on royal life and family tensions.

Harry has already dipped a toe in late-night land: he sat down with Colbert to promote Spare, did jokey bits, and leaned into the “reluctant royal turned California dad” persona. The Invictus Games, the veterans’ competition he founded, remains his signature cause, but increasingly he’s managed his image through American-style media – less palace press office, more talk shows, streaming, and high-production documentaries.

This near-kiss sketch is another step in that direction: Harry isn’t just giving interviews anymore; he’s acting out a character version of himself, complete with fake snow and punchlines.

What’s Next

Does this mean Harry is angling for an actual rom-com? Not necessarily – but it does show where he’s comfortable operating now: in front of a studio audience, winking at the camera, and poking fun at his own royal baggage.

What to watch for next:

• More comedy bits: If Harry keeps popping up in sketches or scripted cameos, especially around holidays, that’s a sign he’s leaning harder into entertainment as part of his brand.
• On-screen projects: Any announcement that he or Meghan are developing light, scripted projects – think feel-good dramas or comedies – will feel like a natural follow-up to this Hallmark-style spoof.
• Political edges: His Trump joke is a reminder he’s not bound by royal neutrality anymore. If he keeps dropping lines like that on American TV, expect louder reactions on both sides of the Atlantic.
• Royal silence (or not): It would be surprising to see any official palace comment, but British panel shows and commentators will almost certainly have thoughts about Harry doing near-kisses and political jokes in front of an American crowd.

For now, Harry seems happy to play the holiday clown prince – the guy in the snow globe who almost kisses the host and then walks off laughing. Whether that version of him wears better than the brooding memoirist is something only time (and ratings) will answer.

What do you make of Harry’s Late Show stunt – harmless holiday camp, or a sign he’s leaning a little too hard into Hollywood prince mode?