During the 2020 presidential race, Meghan Markle told friend Gloria Steinem that she was “so excited” to see mixed-race Kamala Harris running to be Joe Biden’s vice president. She and Prince Harry also recorded a get-out-the-vote message to their fans, with Harry saying, “it’s vital that we reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity.”
While the couple didn’t explicitly endorse the Biden/Harris ticket in 2020, the “hate speech” reference seemed directed at Donald Trump and his inflammatory rhetoric. The GOP candidate consequently was among their many detractors who criticized them for taking sides and ridiculed Harry for trying to intervene in American politics.
For the 2024 election, Meghan and Harry have once again issued a get-out-the-vote message, and this year they’ve tried to be purposefully non-partisan. But once again their critics are fuming.
“By encouraging people to vote they are essentially ballot harvesting for Kamala,” Greg Swenson, a London-based financier and chairman of Republicans Overseas UK told the Daily Mail. “They can’t help themselves.”
This combination of photos shows Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris during an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Swenson also accused the couple of using this get-out-the-vote message to endear themselves to the “Hollywood woke elites,” as they struggle to establish themselves as media moguls and influential public figures.
“Every move Harry and Meghan make is carefully orchestrated to keep them popular among their circle of elites,” Swenson said. “Most woke Hollywood elites are voting for Kamala — but I’m surprised they haven’t outright endorsed her.”
The Telegraph reported that Harry and Meghan issued their get-out-the-vote message through their Archewell Foundation to mark National Voter Registration Day. On Tuesday, the foundation revealed that its staff had sent out personalized letters to unregistered voters, insisting that “every voice matters.”
But The Telegraph said the letters stopped short of endorsing a candidate and used language that tried to sound nonpartisan. The letters, for example, said, “Voting is not just a right; it’s a fundamental way to influence the fate of our communities.”
Speaking out about politics is tricky for the British prince and his American wife, because UK protocol demands political neutrality from members of the British royal family. Indeed, Harry revealed in their 2020 recorded message that he has never been able to vote in the U.K. for his “entire life.” Harry, of course, also can’t vote in U.S. elections because he’s not a U.S. citizen.
This expectation of neutrality apparently still holds for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, even though they stepped away from royal duties in 2020, moved to California and began to speak more freely about issues they care about.
But even if Harry and Meghan have publicly refrained from endorsing the Democratic ticket of Harris and Tim Walz, neither the couple’s fans nor their critics believe that they are privately neutral when it comes to politics or this U.S. presidential race.
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Before Meghan began dating Harry, she voiced her concerns about Trump running for president in 2016. In a TV interview, Meghan, then the co-star of the TV show “Suits,” called Trump “misogynistic” and “divisive.” She also said she might move to Canada if Trump were elected. Three years later, when Trump was president, he hit back at the American duchess, calling her “nasty” ahead of an official visit to meet Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
In their 2020 get-out-the-vote message, Harry and Meghan also referred to the contest between Trump and Biden as “most important election of our lifetime.” In response, Trump stated he was “no fan” of Meghan and wished “a lot of luck to Harry because he’s going to need it.”
Last year, after launching his third presidential bid, Trump said he’d love to go up against Meghan in a debate and alluded to rumors that she harbors political ambitions of her own in the United States. “I’d love to debate her. I would love it,” Trump said in a radio interview.
Tom Bower, a journalist and author of “Revenge,” a scathing 2022 biography of Meghan, said she is “ambitious to be famous and influential.” He told the Daily Mail: “Meghan Markle yearns to belong to the American political establishment, especially the Democrat party.”
Meanwhile, Harry has reasons to “rightly fear” a Trump victory on Nov. 5, Bower told the Daily Mail. Trump has made it clear he wouldn’t help Harry in a high-profile legal row over his U.S. visa, and the Republican nominee has even suggested he would deport the British prince if it turned out that he lied about his past drug use on his visa application.
But even if Harry and Meghan privately fear and oppose Trump’s election, they aren’t going to say so publicly because they know Trump’s retaliation would be “fierce,” Bower said.
“Not surprisingly, the Sussexes are now more cautious,” Bower said. “They can’t resist giving an opinion — and Meghan has not given up her political ambitions — but they rightly fear Trump’s election.”