Prince Harry says his grandmother the Queen asked Meghan Markle for her opinion on Donald Trump when they first met in 2016.
The 38-year-old Duke of Sussex recalled the very first conversation between his grandmother and his then-girlfriend in his explosive new memoir Spare, claiming Her Majesty asked Meg “what she thought of” Trump – who was preparing at the time to participate in the 2016 presidential election, which he ultimately won.
While members of the British family are usually destined to remain politically neutral in public – and cannot vote in UK elections – Harry claims his grandmother couldn’t help but ask what Meghan really thought of the Republican candidate at the time .
However, Harry explains that his now-wife, 41, ultimately chose not to share her opinion, writing that he “considered politics a no-win game” and “changed the subject to Canada,” where she was living at the time .
“It was all very pleasant,” the Duke said of the exchange, which came three years before the Queen’s first official meeting with Trump in 2019. “Grandma even asked Meg what she thought of Donald Trump. (That was right before the November 2016 election, so everyone in the world seemed to be thinking and talking about the Republican nominee.)
Prince Harry says his grandmother the Queen asked Meghan Markle (seen in 2018) to share her thoughts on Donald Trump when they first met in 2016
The 38-year-old says the meeting took place just before the 2016 election – three years before the Queen met Trump in person – and “everyone seemed to be talking about him”.
“Meg thought politics was a game you couldn’t win, so she changed the subject to Canada.”
While Meghan may have balked at the thought of sharing her political views with the Queen, in the years since that first meeting, Trump has been incredibly outspoken in his criticism of her and Harry, slamming the Duchess for “disrespect” in a November 2021 interview . the monarch.
In an on-air interview with British politician Nigel Farage, Trump admitted he was never a “fan” of Meghan, who he believed used Prince Harry.
He said: “I’m not a fan of hers. I wasn’t from day one. I think Harry was terribly used and I think one day he’ll regret it. I think Harry was used and used terribly. I think it ruined his relationship with his family and it hurts the queen.
Referring to the Duchess, he added: “I think she was very disrespectful to the Queen, who is such a great woman, such a great person, such a historical person. I think she is very disrespectful to the royal family and especially the queen.
He also said Meghan was “very inappropriate” when asked by Mr Farage about claims she had used her royal title to meddle in US politics by writing on the Sussexes’ header paper to get members of Congress on issues how to affect paternity leave. “She’s trying to do things that I think are very inappropriate,” he said.
Harry doesn’t reveal how the then-Suits star steered the conversation – though he did note the Queen was confused when Meghan mentioned Canada, asking: “I thought you were American.”
When Harry learned that Meghan was American but lived in Toronto for seven years while she was filming legal drama Suits, Harry said his grandmother “looked happy,” particularly because Canada is part of the Commonwealth.
The meeting – says Harry – lasted around 20 minutes before the Queen had to leave, having originally started with the group exchanging pleasantries about Her Majesty’s service earlier that day and Meghan’s visit to the UK.
The Duke says both his cousin, Princess Eugenie, and her now-husband, Jack Brooksbank, were in attendance, and recalls his irritation that another man, who turned out to be a friend of Eugenie’s mother Fergie, was also called for “one of the Greatest’ present was momentous moments of his life’.
According to Harry, Meghan, now 41, “kept politics for a no-win game,” so she “changed the subject to Canada,” where she lived when she and the Duke first started dating — and where they met their first official appeared together in 2017 (pictured)
Politics has certainly proven to be a no-win issue for the Sussexes since moving to the States. The couple have entered politics on both sides of the Atlantic numerous times since leaving the royal family – which is expected to remain politically neutral in public.
The couple have been heavily criticized on multiple occasions for speaking out on several hot topics, including abortion rights.
Meghan has never publicly affiliated with the Democratic Party, however, her outspoken political views align very well with those of the left.
She has previously spoken out to overturn the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Undoing Wade, criticizing — and in November 2021 it was revealed that Meghan had cold-called Republican senators on their home numbers to lobby for paid paternity leave — a move that was met with backlash in the US and UK.
Then, in June, Meghan dove back into the political pool when she spoke out against the Roe v. Wade said.
The Duchess of Sussex said all men must join women in the fight to protect abortion rights, adding that Harry was a feminist and he reacted with anger at the Supreme Court’s decision.
She said: “My husband and I have talked about this a lot over the past few days. He’s also a feminist,” and in an intervention widely perceived as pro-democracy, she said, “We need to put that fear into action. We can start this November in the midterms. We have to vote every time.”
She also hinted at the time that she was planning to travel to Washington, DC to join protests against the Supreme Court ruling – although it’s unclear if she actually made the trip.