If Prince Harry and Meghan Markle decide to break royal tradition and take a political position in the U.S. presidential election, they’d have very personal reasons for endorsing Kamala Harris and not Donald Trump.
Trump, the former president and current GOP nominee, has made it very clear that he doesn’t like the California-based duo, calling them disloyal to the British royal family and disrespectful to the late Queen Elizabeth II. Trump also has hinted that, if he returns to the White House, he wouldn’t stop immigration authorities from deporting Harry if it somehow was determined that King Charles III’s son failed to disclose his past history of illegal drug use on his visa application.
Now Eric Trump, Trump’s second son and campaign surrogate, is echoing the idea that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex wouldn’t have fans in the White House under a second MAGA-led administration.
In an interview with the right-wing British outlet GB News last week, Eric Trump said, “We’ll happily send them back from America, you can have them back over here, but I’m not sure you guys want them any more than we might not want them anymore.”
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II views a display of US items of the Royal collection with US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump at Buckingham palacein central London on June 3, 2019, on the first day of their three-day State Visit to the UK. (Photo by Tolga AKMEN / POOL / AFP)TOLGA AKMEN/AFP/Getty Images
Trump’s animosity towards the duke and his American former TV actor wife stems from several grievances. First, he has long expressed great admiration for the British royal family and for the late queen, though it’s hard to know if the feelings are reciprocated.
Trump said in one recent interview with GB News that Harry and Meghan “broke” the queen’s heart with their acrimonious departure from royal life in 2020 and their move to the United States, NBC News reported. The couple’s arrival in California was followed by years of public statements, in which they accused the monarchy of various forms of racism, dysfunction and cruelty and they revealed sensational complaints about certain family members.
Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump attend a joint press conference between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Theresa May at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office during the second day of the President’s State Visit on June 4, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by David Rose – WPA Pool /Getty Images)
Trump twice met Elizabeth during his presidency, and he, his wife and his four adult children, including Eric, were guests at a state dinner hosted by the queen at Buckingham Palace in 2019. In a 2022 interview with Piers Morgan, Trump suggested that Harry’s relationship with his family had been ruined by Meghan, who, he said, had led him “around by his nose.” He also said that he thought the queen should have stripped the two of their royal titles.
“He has been so disrespectful to the country, and I think he’s an embarrassment,” Trump said about Harry.
In his ire for the couple, Trump also has focused on Meghan, telling Morgan he’s “not a fan.” Trump and Meghan’s mutual dislike goes back to at least 2016 when the then-“Suits” star gave an interview with Larry Wilmore, describing then-presidential candidate Trump as “divisive” and “misogynistic.”
Ahead of Trump’s first visit to the U.K. in 2018, he was quoted in the British tabloid The Sun referring to Meghan’s remarks about him. The leader of the free world clapped back at the duchess by calling her “nasty,” though he later denied saying such a thing.
Fast forward to Trump’s GB interview in March when he spoke with Nigel Farage, the former leader of the far-right U.K. Independence Party and a personal friend, NBC News reported. During the interview, Trump and Farage discussed the legal battle over Harry’s U.S. visa after the Montecito-based duke expressed interest in American citizenship, NBC News reported.
The conservative U.S. think tank, the Heritage Foundation, has sued the Department of Homeland Security in federal court for access to Harry’s immigration records. The foundation, which created the controversial Project 2025 plan to overhaul the federal government on a number of issues, including immigration, has argued that Harry’s records should be made public to determine whether he received special privileges in entering the country and to find out if he disclosed his history of drug use in his application. U.S. Immigration law says that any visa applicant who is determined to be a drug abuser or addict is inadmissible, though immigration officials can use their discretion to waive the rule.
In Harry’s 2023 memoir “Spare,” he detailed his past recreational use of marijuana, cannabis and hallucinogens. When Farage asked Trump whether he, as president, would allow Harry to enjoy any “special privileges” if he were found to have lied on his application, the 45th president said: “No. We’ll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied they’ll have to take appropriate action.”
Trump has vowed to enact the mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants if re-elected. When Farage pressed him to define “appropriate action” for Harry and whether it would include deportation, Trump replied: “Oh, I don’t know. You’ll have to tell me. You just have to tell me. You would have thought they would have known this a long time ago.”
The Heritage Foundation’s lawsuit is still pending, while Harry and Meghan appear to be gearing up for another media blitz to possibly promote new business ventures and causes. Harry notably has spoken about his legal crusades against the U.K. tabloids and to try and force the U.K. government to reinstate his armed police protection when he and family visit his home country. During an interview with CBS This Sunday, Meghan also revived her claims that she experienced suicidal thoughts while she was still a working member of the royal family. Reports last week suggested that Harry’s relationship with his father had reached an all-time low, with the king refusing to take his son’s phone calls.
As for Eric Trump’s GB interview, he declined to directly comment on Harry’s visa troubles or on the Heritage Foundation efforts to make his visa documents public. Eric Trump instead pivoted to talk more generally about the Trump family’s love for the U.K. and for its monarchy.
“There will be no better ally in the United Kingdom than Donald Trump, I truly mean that,” said Eric Trump, who was being interviewed during a visit to the Trump International Golf Links in Scotland.
“What I can tell you is my father had so much respect for the queen, as did I,” Eric Trump said. He called the monarchy “a sacred institution” before saying that the U.K. can “have those two back.” He said that Harry and Meghan “feel like they’re on a little bit of an island of their own.”
