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Prince Harry is a man peeved at a few things right now.

But whatever you might think of him, or his reasons for feeling aggrieved, he has done himself and his country proud by speaking up against an arrogant and ignorant bully, proving he's on the right side of history.

There have been very few occasions when royals have strayed into the political arena, but veteran Harry's eviscerating riposte to Donald Trump's idiocy over Afghanistan proves where his loyalties really lie.

The US President enraged former and serving soldiers by incorrectly stating NATO troops "stayed a little off the front lines".

His inaccurate belittling of the role played by British troops in Afghanistan was an insult to the 457 heroes who died in combat and those left with life-changing injuries.

And for enraged Harry, who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter co-pilot and gunner, very much on the front line, that was enough for him to see red.

Although he didn't name Trump, his target was clear. And in just six simple words, he put the obtuse president in his place by saying, "thousands of lives were changed forever".

His seismic statement said: "In 2001, NATO invoked Article 5 for the first and only time in history. It meant that every allied nation was obliged to stand with the United States in Afghanistan, in pursuit of our shared security. Allies answered that call.

"I served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there. The United Kingdom alone had 457 service personnel killed.

"Thousands of lives were changed forever. Mothers and fathers buried sons and daughters. Children were left without a parent. Families are left carrying the cost.

"Those sacrifices deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect, as we all remain united and loyal to the defence of diplomacy and peace."

Make no mistake, his words resonated and deeply damaged Trump, whose warped worldview increasingly seeks to rewrite history.

In besmirching the memories of the 1,160 non-US coalition soldiers killed in Afghanistan - and thousands more who were wounded - Trump has forgotten one thing.

It was the countries he now seeks to destabilise in his tyrannical fetish for Greenland that came to his country's aid after the September 11 attacks.

A quarter of a century later, his casual and flippant dismissal of their service belittles their sacrifice, demeans his office, and makes a mockery of his commander-in-chief title.

Harry's words clearly had an impact.

Yesterday, blustering Trump was forced to backpedal and issue a humiliating clarification on his Truth Social platform, saying Britons "were among the greatest of all warriors" as he finally acknowledged those who died and the many who returned "badly injured".

"The GREAT and very BRAVE soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America!" he wrote.

"It's a bond too strong to ever be broken," the president added.

"The UK Military, with tremendous Heart and Soul, is second to none (except for the USA!). We love you all, and always will!"

That Trump, a know-it-all braggart, continually embarrasses himself with a lack of knowledge seems not to matter to him or the nodding dogs he surrounds himself with. It emboldens him.

As if to highlight the wilful ignorance coursing from the White House, it posted an inflammatory AI-generated image of Trump walking a penguin astride through a snowy, mountain landscape.

"Embrace the penguin," it wrote on X, showing the flightless seabird holding an American flag (with Greenland's standard in the distance).

It was a provocative and immature act aimed at NATO amid the continuing verbal (for now) tussle for the Danish territory. It was also factually inaccurate.

Why? Because no penguins exist in Greenland, the Arctic, or the Northern Hemisphere.

But mistakes - factual or otherwise - just don't seem to matter to truth-twister Trump, so the White House doubled down on the toe-curling error when it was pointed out in terms the president might grasp that the Oscar-winning kids film Happy Feet was set in Antarctica...in the Southern Hemisphere.

The White House response? "The penguin does not concern himself with the opinions of those who cannot comprehend."

And this is the problem the world increasingly faces: it is impossible to reason with simpletons because they drag you down to their level...and then beat you with experience.