Right-wing political commentator Meghan McCain has slammed Prince Harry on Twitter, calling his description of his frostbitten penis after a 2011 visit to the North Pole and his using Princess Diana's lip cream as an attempted remedy in his book Spare, an "Oedipus from hell story."
McCain has been a vocal critic of both Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, previously calling the prince's 2022 speech to the U.N. "wildly insulting," to the American people after he compared the "rolling back of constitutional rights" in the States to the war in Ukraine.
On Tuesday, McCain took to Twitter to vent her frustration at the prince's revelation about his frostbitten penis which has become a talking point for comedians including Jimmy Kimmel and Chelsea Handler. McCain said that had similar comments been made by a woman, they wouldn't be taken seriously.
"I can't express how gross and uncomfortable I found this Oedipus from hell story Prince Harry revealed about his penis and his moms face cream," she wrote in response to a skit about the subject on Jimmy Kimmel's Monday night show.
"People pass by just how vulgar and graphic it is - no woman could tell these types of stories about her genitals and be taken seriously."
In his memoir Spare, Harry recounted the story of his frostbite as having made his experience on Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding day uncomfortable.
"My penis was oscillating between extremely sensitive and borderline traumatized. The last place I wanted to be was Frostnipistan," he wrote of his experience having returned to Britain from the North Pole where he had developed frostbite on his ears and penis.
I can’t express how gross and uncomfortable I found this oedipus from hell story Prince Harry revealed about his penis and his moms face cream.
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) January 17, 2023
People pass by just how vulgar and graphic it is - no woman could tell these types of stories about her genitals and be taken seriously https://t.co/zu1F2VuZLk
"I'd been trying some home remedies, including one recommended by a friend. She'd urged me to apply Elizabeth Arden cream. My mum used that on her lips. 'You want me to put that on my todger?'
"'It works, Harry. Trust me.' I found a tube, and the minute I opened it, the smell transported me through time. I felt as if my mother was right there in the room.
"Then I took a smidge and applied it...down there. 'Weird' doesn't really do the feeling justice."
The surreal link to Princess Diana, who is a prominent figure throughout Harry's memoir, as well as his journey in processing the grief he felt after her death which occurred when he was just 12 years old, has opened him up to ridicule online and from comedians.
An audiobook clip of the story has captured the imagination of TikTokers, with content creators making viral dances to it and others editing it in with pop songs.
At the 28th Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday, Chelsea Handler included the anecdote in her opening monologue, saying: "Dahmer (true crime series) became the third highest viewed show on Netflix, with a combined watch time of 1 billion hours. Which, apparently, is the same amount of time we're going to have to listen to Prince Harry talk about his frostbitten penis. It's enough already."
Some have also questioned whether—with the revelations—Harry has inadvertently undone his rebranding over the years—from a class clown persona to becoming an advocate for social justice causes.
In a similar response to Kimmel's Monday night skit, which appeared to make both Harry and Princess Diana the butt of its joke, royal journalist Richard Palmer posed the question on Twitter: "Prince Harry's decision to write a memoir has been a commercial success, provoked controversy around the world, and further alienated him from many Britons. But could it be that the lasting legacy of this project is that it turned him into an international laughing stock?"
Newsweek approached representatives of Prince Harry for comment.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
