Prince Harry might be ready for a new career, and Stephen Colbert is ready to help. During the Wednesday, Dec. 3 episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the host, 61, began an extended bit about the vast number of made-for-TV Christmas movies that involve an American falling in love with a prince or princess, no matter how improbable.
“As much as I love these holiday movies, and I do, I think they’re a little problematic because they give people the unrealistic expectation that during the holiday season, they’re just going to run into some prince at their job or walking down the street,” Colbert said.
At that moment, the Duke of Sussex, 41, interrupted Colbert’s speech and popped up behind the host — sending the audience into cheers and a standing ovation. “I genuinely thought this was the audition for the Gingerbread Prince Saves Christmas in Nebraska,” Harry quipped.
Colbert replied: “You’re an actual prince. Why would you want to be in one of those movies?”
“Well, you Americans are obsessed with Christmas movies — and you’re clearly obsessed with royalty — so why not?” Harry said.
Colbert pushed back: “I wouldn’t say we’re obsessed with royalty.”
“Really?” Harry shot back. “I heard you elected a king,” he quipped — an apparent nod to the “No Kings” protests directed at President Donald Trump and his administration.
“That’s a fair point, no, he’s got a point,” Colbert said.
Harry then continued, “And after making such a big deal about my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather George III.”
The Duke of Sussex then asked Colbert what a real prince had to do to get into a Hallmark movie. At one point, Colbert suggested it was important in show business to have inside connections. “Do you have any connections to any famous TV actresses?”
“I might know one,” Harry said, thinking of his wife, Meghan Markle. “But I’ll do anything. I’ll record a self-tape, I’ll fly myself to an audition. I’ll settle a baseless lawsuit with the White House… all the things you people in TV do!”
“I didn’t do any of those things,” Colbert said.
“Maybe that’s why you’re canceled,” Harry joked.
Later in the sketch, it appeared that Harry and Colbert were coming close to kissing as fake snow fell on the stage. They even held each other as they got closer. Colbert later pulled off his glasses to tell Harry he “got the role” of “official Late Show prince of Christmas.”
Before The Late Show kicked off, Colbert teased Harry’s appearance by sharing a social media video set to a viral Great British Bake Off sound bite. In the clip, Harry was in the guest chair as he took on the Great British Bake Off co-host Alison Hammond’s voice, and asked Colbert, “If you were treated like a king for a day, what would you want me to do for you?”
Harry also made a surprise appearance on Meghan’s latest Netflix special, With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration, which was released earlier Wednesday. He joined his wife, 44, in the kitchen just as she began cooking her mother Doria Ragland’s beloved Christmas Eve gumbo with Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio.
Related: The 12 Most Revealing Moments from Meghan Markle’s Netflix Holiday Special — Yes, Prince Harry Pops In
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