Prince Harry has been openly mocked by a leading legal figure in the US for appearing to hit out at a decision to allow American states to ban abortions.
Court Justice Samuel Alito brushed off criticism from Harry and other prominent figures around the world of last month's blockbuster ruling he authored that overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 abortion rights decision.
Alito dismissed criticism of the ruling, which has also come from the likes of Boris Johnson and took aim at the Duke of Sussex, who referenced the abortion ruling in a speech at the United Nations last week.
During his speech last week, Harry spoke of 2022 as "a painful year in a painful decade" before citing the war in Ukraine and "the rolling back of constitutional rights here in the United States".
And speaking at a conference on religious liberty in Rome, Alito said in a sarcastic tone: "But what really wounded me - what really wounded me - was when the Duke of Sussex addressed the United Nations and seemed to compare the decision whose name may not be spoken with the Russian attack on Ukraine."
Alito's references to the abortion ruling, which came during a speech about the importance of religious liberty, were met with laughter from the audience.
The Court Justice's previously unannounced speech was also delivered last week at a conference hosted by the University of Notre Dame Law School. Video of the speech was posted online on Thursday by Notre Dame.
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He also said in the speech: "I had the honour this term of writing I think the only Supreme Court decision in the history of that institution that has been lambasted by a whole string of foreign leaders who felt perfectly fine commenting on American law.
"One of these was former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but he paid the price," Alito joked, referring to Mr Johnson's resignation as Tory leader earlier this month.
Alito's comments come weeks after Meghan Markle also made deeply personal comments following the US Supreme Court's decision.
The Duchess of Sussex encouraged the normalisation of conversations about abortion and women's health during an interview with Vogue magazine.
She spoke about feeling "fortunate" to be able to have both of her children, Archie and Lilibet, and knowing what it feels like "to have a connection to what is growing inside your body".
The 40-year-old, who revealed in November 2020 that she had had a miscarriage, also referred to the "silence and stigma" surrounding women's bodies, despite "so many dealing with personal health crises."
Meghan said: "I think about how fortunate I felt to be able to have both of my children. I know what it feels like to have a connection to what is growing inside of your body.
"What happens with our bodies is so deeply personal, which can also lead to silence and stigma, even though so many of us deal with personal health crises.
"I know what miscarrying feels like, which I’ve talked about publicly.
"The more that we normalise the conversation about the things that affect our lives and bodies, the more people are going to understand how necessary it is to have protections in place."
