Royal fans were left baffled over Prince Harry’s “Americanisation” during his latest video to promote the Invictus Games.
The Duke of Sussex took part in a sketch which was released last week and in which he appeared to be given a tattoo by US music star Jelly Roll, as part of the build-up to the Invictus Games in Canada, which will take place in February.
In the sketch, filmed at New York tattoo parlour East Side Ink, where the royal was pictured weeks ago, the country singer and rapper made jokes with the duke, and Harry showcased linguistic changes that royal fans quickly picked up on.
Apart from adopting a different accent, the duke seemed to be using American phrases and words like “dude” instead of mate and “a**” instead of “a**e”.
Fans took to social media to express their views over Harry’s latest change.
One user wrote on X: “I love him. The people’s prince. And he totally has an American accent now.”
A second one said: “The California accent is very, very easy to pick up because you hear it on American television all the time. I’m not surprised it’s breaking that British accent from him.”
Another one added: “American slang, a bit of the accent. I love it!”
A fourth one opined: “His British accent sounds more diluted to make way for the American accent.”
A fifth one commented: “It sounds like Prince Harry is losing his British accent.”
Meanwhile, speech and accent expert Dr Laura Bailey said the changes could be linked to Harry’s “desire” to feel more like a “normal person”.
Dr Bailey, who lectures at the University of Kent, said his sound changes are mostly a “relaxing” of King’s English into something closer to the accent of middle-class people from the south of England.
She told the Mail: “This will be partly because he’s not hanging out with other posh people any more – so it’s not reinforced all the time by hearing it – and partly in order not to stand out so much.”