Congressman asks British government to strip Prince Harry and Meghan Markle of titles if they don’t stop commenting on U.S. election

A Missouri congressman has formally asked the British government to stop the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from interfering in the presidential election.



Meghan Markle, Prince Harry are posing for a picture


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Rep. Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican, sent a letter Friday to the British government arguing that the couple’s comments urging Americans to vote and to “reject hate speech, misinformation, and online negativity” constitute a “serious breach of the British Royal Family’s policy of political neutrality and an inappropriate act of domestic interference by one of our closest allies.”

“It is my view, the titles and privileges they retain by permission of Her Majesty the Queen, given with the advice and consent of her government, prevent the Duke and Duchess from separating comments made in a personal capacity from their official position within the British Royal Family,” Smith wrote in a letter addressed to Karen Pierce, the British Ambassador to the United States. “By allowing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to retain their titles, and these political comments to continue, the British Government is effectively condoning interference in the 2020 United States Presidential Election from officials at the highest level of the British establishment.”

Smith closed his letter by requesting that the British government ensure Prince Harry and Meghan Markle “no longer attempt to interfere” in the 2020 election or be “stripped of all titles, styles, and privileges which they currently retain.”

The couple released a video marking the release of the Time 100 list, in which Prince Harry urged Americans to “reject hate speech, misinformation, and online negativity” as the election approaches. Markle called the 2020 election the “most important election of our lifetime.”

The president was asked about the comments at a press briefing in September. He said he was “no fan” of Markle and added, “I wish a lot of luck to Harry because he’s going to need it.”

Piers Morgan, an English broadcaster, called the video “completely unacceptable” and said the comments were “ effectively telling Americans to vote against President Trump.”

Morgan wrote that the royals had “crossed a massive line which should now have serious consequences for the couple who specialize in wanting their royal cake and the freedom to eat it.”

Corey Lewandowski, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said that the couple had “made Britain great again by leaving” and hopes “they do the same for” the U.S.

The former actress has been heavily involved in “get-out-the vote” campaigns since returning to the U.S. She cold-called voters with activist Gloria Steinem and revealed in a discussion with Steinem that Joe Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate made her “so excited.”

In August, she participated in an event with When All Women Vote, an organization co-founded by former first lady Michelle Obama, telling viewers that if they “aren’t part of the solution, we’re part of the problem. If you’re complacent, you’re complicit.”

Markle has been a critic of the president, calling him “divisive” and “misogynistic” in a 2016 interview.

“Of course, Trump is divisive — think about female voters alone. I think it was in 2012. The Republican Party lost the female vote by 12 points. That’s a huge number, and as misogynistic as Trump is, and so vocal about it, that’s a huge chunk of it,” she told Larry Wilmore. “You’re not just voting for a woman if it’s Hillary [Clinton]. Yes, you’re voting because she’s a woman, but certainly, because Trump has made it easy to see that you don’t really want that kind of world that he’s painting.”

Representatives for the British Royal Family, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and the British Embassy in Washington did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.

Tags: News, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Royals, Campaign 2020, 2020 Elections, Congress

Original Author: Carly Ortiz-Lytle

Original Location: ‘Domestic interference’: Congressman asks British government to strip Prince Harry and Meghan Markle of titles if they don’t stop commenting on U.S. election

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