Prince Harry Takes A Selfie With 'Lunatic' Claiming To Be His Cousin, Royal Expert Says
Prince Harry has been criticized by royal experts for posing for a selfie with a German royal and reality star who claims to be a distant cousin of the British royal family.
On Friday, the Duke of Sussex, 39, attended the 21st Annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards in Beverly Hills, where he took a photo with Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe, who posted the selfie on Instagram.
Royal commentator Charlotte Griffiths, editor-at-large at Mail on Sunday, suggested on GB News that this encounter with the "lunatic" royal likely left Prince Harry's PR team in dismay, especially considering the controversy surrounding Prince Mario-Max's royal connections.
Griffiths described the Duke of Sussex, who was honored for his work as an Apache helicopter pilot, posing for a selfie with Prince Mario-Max as "sad" and claimed that the award ceremony was "pretty low-rent" and had no A-listers.
She speculated that had Prince Harry remained a working royal, a team would have vetted such encounters, preventing potential PR pitfalls.
"Royal family members very rarely take selfies because of this exact thing. You get some lunatic who has now put [the photo] all over his social media," the royal expert claimed. "He will dine out on it for the rest of his life, which is something we know Harry hates."
Other royal experts echoed Griffiths' sentiments about the selfie, with royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams telling the Daily Mail: "Harry has made a fool of himself."
Phil Dampier, a biographer of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, also told the outlet, "It's very sad to see someone who was once a real-life royal with so much to offer reduced to this sort of tacky selfie."
Prince Mario-Max's website boasts family connections stretching back to William III, Prince of Orange. This would make him a very, very distant cousin of the British royals, including Prince Harry, according to the Daily Mail.
But Prince Mario-Max has faced skepticism from his own family, with Prince Alexander of Schaumburg-Lippe accusing him of exploiting the family name for "personal gain."
"Prince Harry cannot stoop lower than appearing with him. I would advise him to stay away from this man," Prince Alexander told the outlet.
Responding to the criticism, Prince Mario-Max shared on Instagram his official birth documents from 2009, after he was adopted by a member of the Schaumburg-Lippe family when he was in his 20s.
Alongside the image, Prince Mario-Max wrote that he is the son of Prince Waldemar, the son of Princess Feodora of Denmark, and Princess Antonia Schaumburg-Lippe.
He went on to call out the alleged "false" claims about him that have surfaced since he posted his selfie with Prince Harry.
"I feel so sorry for Prince Harry -- solely having a chat with him catapulted myself into the world of false, defamatory and hate-post tabloid journalism as well! Being a professional reporter myself, I am stunned by the extend (sic) of #fakenews," Mario-Max captioned the image.
Mario-Max appeared on Germany's "Celebrity Big Brother" in 2014 and made cameos on the Bravo shows "Real Housewives of Beverly" and "Millionaire Matchmaker." He also hosts a royal show called "Astro Royal."
Over the years, Mario-Max has shared on social media numerous photos and videos he took with royals and celebrities, including Prince Albert of Monaco, Jennifer Aniston, Emily Blunt, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Paris Hilton.
