President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was glad Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle had left the United States, while adding that if he were part of the British royal family, he would not have taken them back.
Trump accused Meghan, 45, of being “terribly disrespectful” to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in his first reaction since the prince and his American wife moved back to Britain from California.
“I’m happy about it. I was not a fan,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked what he thought about Harry and Meghan’s departure.
“I thought they treated the royal family with great disrespect. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the way she acted. I thought she was terribly disrespectful to the Queen, to King Charles.”
No Royal Welcome
Trump said he wouldn’t have been so forgiving. “Maybe I’m different. I wouldn’t have taken him back, right? If I were the royal family, I would not have taken them back,” said the 80-year-old president.
The A-list celebrity couple is now settling back in Harry’s homeland, six years after they stepped down as working royals and left for the United States amid bitter acrimony with his family.
Harry, 41, appeared to have mended relations with his father, King Charles III, who is battling cancer, during more recent UK visits. Harry reportedly remains estranged from his brother, Prince William, and William’s wife Catherine.
A History of Barbs
The 80-year-old former reality TV star has previously traded barbs with Meghan on a number of occasions. On the eve of a state visit to Britain in 2019 during his first term, Trump denied that he had called Meghan “nasty,” despite the comment being clearly audible on a tape of an interview with a tabloid.
She had in turn been critical of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, calling him “misogynistic” and “divisive.”
Trump again seemed stung when Meghan commented ahead of the 2020 election, which he lost, saying he was “not a fan” and adding: “I wish a lot of luck to Harry, because he’s going to need it.”
The Royal Return
The royal couple’s return to Britain along with their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, marked the end of a long exile from Harry’s homeland.
The pair married in a glitzy wedding in 2018 but two years later relinquished their role as working royals after a feud with the British royals and moved to North America. The rift deepened as Harry published his tell-all memoir “Spare” and the couple gave a no-holds-barred interview to Oprah Winfrey, insinuating that the monarchy was racist and discussing Meghan’s suicidal thoughts.
But while the couple signed commercial deals with Netflix and Spotify, reports said their attempts to make a living in the United States had fallen flat.
The Bottom Line
President Trump said he is “happy” that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have left the US, calling Meghan “terribly disrespectful” to the royal family. Trump added that he would not have taken them back if he were the royal family. Harry and Meghan have returned to Britain after six years in the US, settling in the Cotswolds with their two children.
