LONDON – President Donald Trump on Wednesday called on fellow Americans to vote in the next presidential election after remarks he took a hard line on Duchess Sussex Meghan Markle.
Trump told the press at a White House news briefing, “I’m not a fan of him and I can say this, and she may have heard of it, but I wish Harry a lot of luck.”
The president’s remarks follow a video made by Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry of Britain, in which he said that every four years the election is “the most important election of our lives”.
“But this is one,” he said.
The couple’s video urges Americans to vote and keep in mind the negative tone of deb online discussions and to get etiquette and “create communities of compassion.”
While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex advocated for Americans to vote, neither Donald Trump nor Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden gave a clear name or endorsement, but some did interpret Trump’s remarks as critical.
Harry, who now lives in California with his wife, said, “As we get closer this November, it’s important that we reject hate speech, misinformation and neline negativity.” He also said he did not vote his “whole life” with the royal protocols of political neutrality.
The front pages of the British tabloid on Thursday were filled with images of the royal couple as Buckingham Palace appeared to be distancing themselves from their comments, telling the British press that the pair were no longer working and that Harry was speaking in “personal capacity”.
In the past, Prince Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, had previously encouraged people in Britain to exercise their right to vote.
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Harry and Meghan were shocked in January when they abruptly left royal duties, with plans to spend their time between North America and Britain.
When Harry married the former actress in May 2018, their marriage was described as a blast of glamor and modernity in the British monarchy, and helped make her one of the biggest celebrity couples in the world.
While their January announcement was a surprise, it’s no secret that the couple felt the strain of media attention and constant negative headlines.
Still, the couple’s struggles with the media are following them into the Atlantic. In July, they filed a privacy lawsuit against an anonymous paparazzi, accusing photographers of taking drastic measures to obtain images of him and his young son Archie at their California home.
