Prince Harry and Alison Hammond have struck up a surprise friendship and the duo embraced in Birmingham on Friday, with he TV presenter calling him ‘babes’
Prince Harry is back in the UK and took time to embrace one of his and wife Meghan Markle’s more vocal supporters, Alison Hammond. The prince and the TV presenter have struck up a surprise bond in recent years and came together again in Birmingham for the countdown to the Invictus Games.
The duo continue to share a close bond with Alison coming under fire for calling the Duke “babes” live on This Morning today. Harry is currently in the UK on a solo visit without wife Meghan Markle or their two kids.
Trying her best to interview the founder, presenter Alison was thrown into taking part in a race on TV. But their friendship actually dates back years, to the moment when they came face to face in a crowd.
First meeting in 2017
Prince Harry and TV star Alison first met in December 2017. The meeting came during his and Meghan Markle’s first joint royal outing in Nottingham when he came up to her in a crowd.
It came as part of the former royals’ visit to Nottingham for World AIDS Day in 2017.. Alison was heard screaming out to Meghan: “Megs! ITV! Megs. Meghan, we love you!” She also shouted: “Harry, come and get warmed up by me.”
The meeting, which went viral at the time after Harry ‘body swerved’ her, made it onto the couple’s Netflix documentary.
Alison said later: “It was actually in the documentary – so I was watching the documentary, and I was like, ‘That’s my voice!’ I was like, this is so good! I’m all over this documentary.'”
Harry’s impression of Alison
Harry showed his appreciation by doing an impression of Alison on US telly. The Duke of Sussex recreated an iconic Hammond moment from her time on The Great British Bake Off when he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
In a comedy sketch on the talk show, Harry lip-synced with the host recreating a moment from the Channel 4 show in which the Bake Off host misunderstood a contestant.
When she thought he said “beg”, Alison got confused. It was bake he was actually saying and Harry enjoyed the skit stateside.
“You’d want me to do what? Beg?” Alison exclaimed on the show. Mark then clarified: “Bake! B-A-K-E,” leaving Alison to burst into laughter.
Hitting back at their critics
Alison has often used her job on This Morning to defend Harry and Meghan. In 2022, she said she didn’t understand the controversy over them doing a Netflix show. She said: “If the Kardashians do it why can’t they? They’re damned if they do, damned if they don’t.”
In another episode she told Camilla Tominey: “Meghan can’t control what is put in the papers, can she? It’s not her fault that everyone… she’s been bigged up and been the number one person.”
Meghan’s private messages
In December 2025, Alison proudly revealed on Loose Women that Meghan had reached out to her directly on Instagram. It came after the prince’s skit from GBBO.
Alison told the panel: “I’ll be honest with you, she ‘at-ed’ me in, so she knew who I was, first of all.”
“So she is obviously following the Ham, do you know what I mean?” Alison went on, laughing: “And it came up on my direct messages, so I though, ‘Oh my god!’ I have to say something, what do I say?
“So I was like: ‘I love this!’ I just thought I would keep it cool. Not too much. I didn’t want to beg it. And then she just sent me an emoji of a heart. So, I’m in there. Am I in there?”
Hammond fan club
Harry revealed that his kids, Prince Archie, seven and Princess Lilibet, five, were huge fans of Alison’s.
Alison told him: “I live in Birmingham, are you going to come round to my house today or a little bit later?” Prince Harry replied: “Uh, maybe.” She then offered up a meal of saltfish, to which Harry replied: “Alright, let me think about it.”
She told him: “Alright, have a think about it. I’ll go and get everything ready at the house, a little tidy up, bleach my toilets,” to which Harry then joked: “Why do you need to tidy up? I’ll come and bleach your toilets. For you, anything.”
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