Harry and Meghan face backlash for US election comments

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made headlines when they urged US citizens to “reject hate speech” and vote in the “most important election of our lifetime”, but in doing so have caused tensions with President Donald Trump and the Palace.

Following the comments on the Time 100 special, the US president weighed in on the couple’s take on the upcoming election and served some harsh truths about the Duchess.

“I’m not a fan of hers,” he said at a White House press conference. “I would say this, and she has probably has heard that, but I wish a lot of luck to Harry cause he’s gonna need it.”

What’s more, the Palace released an official statement in regards to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s comments and made it clear that they were staying out of it.

“The Duke is not a working member of the Royal Family and any comments he makes are made in a personal capacity,” a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.

Traditionally, members of the royal family don’t vote or get involved with elections and Harry remains sixth in line to the British throne. As Harry isn’t a US citizen, he will not be able to vote but his American-born wife can.

Managing editor of Majesty magazine Joe Little, said: “You can understand Meghan getting involved as an American citizen, although she is now a member of the British royal family. But I think people will struggle a lot more with Prince Harry because as a prince of the blood it’s not seen as the done thing to talk about politics, be it British or American.

“He may be thousands of miles away, but yet he is still a member of the royal family, the Queen’s grandson, and it’s something he wouldn’t do were he still in the UK.”

Even though Harry spoke passionately about the importance of voting, a source close to the red-headed royal said he wasn’t referring to Trump or any other individual.

“The duke was talking about the tone of the debate in the run-up to an election which is already quite febrile,” they revealed.

“He is not talking about any candidate or specific campaign. He is building on a lot of stuff that he’s said before about online communities, how we engage with each other online, rather than specifically making any political points.”

Democrat campaigner and feminist icon Gloria Steinem recently claimed that Meghan’s primary intention was to head back to the United States to vote. 

“The first thing we did, and why she came to see me, was we sat at the dining room table where I am right now and we cold-called voters,” Gloria told Access Hollywood.

She went on to allege that the Duchess of Sussex’s initiative was to be as candid as possible with the people on the other end of the phone.

She added that there were no formal introductions – aside from greeting people by saying “Hello I’m Meg” and “Hello I’m Gloria… are you going to vote?”

Designerzcentral