Prince Harry looked ‘sad, anxious and tired’ after he and Meghan collected ‘Humanitarians of the Year’ Award

Prince Harry looked ‘sad, worried and tired’ during his so-called royal tour of New York with Meghan Markle after receiving the ‘Humanitarian of the Year’ award.

A member of the audience at the World Mental Health Festival, which the couple supported last week, described the Sussex couple as ‘very serious’.

A royal watchdog has described the festival as ‘dreary’, suggesting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may have been affected by the lack of crowds to greet them at the event run by Project Healthy Mind on Friday.

She said of Harry: ‘You got the impression that his life was going in the wrong direction’ and added: ‘Harry just looked sad, worried and tired. ‘He obviously hates speaking in front of a crowd’.

Sussex’s Archewell Foundation sponsored three panels at the festival focusing specifically on passion projects: the mental health crisis among young people and online safety.

Anonymous listener said: ‘I was hoping they would join the panel but each of them stood up and read a speech from the teleprompter to start a session.’

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are in the audience at the Project Healthy Minds World Mental Health Day Festival at Spring Studios in New York, which the Archewell Foundation helps sponsor

Harry took first place at the event on World Mental Health Day and said: ‘The global pandemic has stripped away the mundane scaffolding of life and caused a measurable increase in anxiety, depression and loss of connection.’

Meghan then stood up and introduced the second panel, moderated by Katie Couric, as her husband watched.

He said: ‘In the next panel we will address one of the most pressing questions facing families today: What is happening to childhood, and how and what do we do to allow our children to just be kids?’

After three panels, Meghan and Harry stood up together, hugged some festival attendees, and left together to have lunch with Serena Williams at Soho House.

The woman watching from the crowd claimed: ‘I felt so gloomy. There is no crowd to greet them. And there was quite a transactional relationship between the two. It was very interesting to see them in person’ Account on The Royalist Substack has been requested.

Meghan appeared on stage separately from her husband

Meghan and Harry later went out to lunch with Serena Williams at Soho House.

The night before, Meghan and Harry were the stars of Project Healthy Minds’ World Mental Health Day Gala.

Footage from the red carpet showed Prince Harry rushing past his wife before they took their seats.

The Duke of Sussex took Meghan’s hand and posed for photographers before walking away, but the Duchess of Sussex appeared to linger.

Royal watchers even claimed the Duke of Sussex may have gently whispered ‘come on now’ to Meghan when she paused.

In another video taken behind the scenes at the Healthy Minds Project premiere in New York, the Duke of Sussex is caught by a member of the team asking him a question.

Meghan was awkwardly left standing alone, waiting for her to arrive, with some critics claiming she ‘stared’ briefly before smiling. But one supporter said she would make every effort not to ‘overshadow’ her husband.

Meghan later received the humanitarian award and was praised as a ‘mother, wife, entrepreneur and philanthropist’. Harry’s work with mental health companies and his controversial 2021 memoir Spare were among his achievements.

Phillip Schermer, CEO and founder of Project Healthy Minds, told the audience that the Sussexes’ ‘leadership and generosity… have made a profound difference in the lives of so many people.’

Some critics said there was some ‘irony’ in the award, given the pain the Sussexes had caused Harry’s family.

But an ally of Meghan and Harry who took to the stage to hand them the gong has since insisted “no one” deserved the praise more.

Lawyer Laura Marquez-Garrett on stage with the Sussexes and says ‘no one’ deserves to be remembered more

Lawyer Laura Marquez-Garrett, herself a social media safety campaigner, described their critics as ‘sad’, ‘pessimistic’ and accused them of lacking humanity.

‘NO ONE has done more for the thousands of families served by the Social Media Law Center than the Duke and Duchess of Sussex,’ he wrote in his defense on LinkedIn.

He revealed that the Sussexes provide special support to families who have lost loved ones due to social media abuse.

He wrote that the couple helped ‘not just with money and words, but by coming personally over and over… making personal phone calls, sending notes, and picking fruit from their garden for their grieving parents so they would know they were not alone.’ ‘By putting ideas, resources and support into action to ensure these families have what they need to get back on their feet and fight’.

He said: ‘No one… I repeat… NO ONE has done more for the thousands of families served by the Social Media Law Center than the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. And no one… I repeat… NO ONE has done more for those of us at SMVLC who love these families and need them to do the work we do in litigation, legislation and education than the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

‘Their humanity speaks for itself, and I feel sorry for those who live in a place where social media drives life rather than seeking the truth from first-hand witnesses. ‘This must be a sad, depressing and scary place to live’.