President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was glad that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had left the United States and returned to the United Kingdom, telling reporters they had disrespected the late Queen Elizabeth II. The president shared his thoughts publicly for the first time during a briefing in the Oval Office, saying he was "very happy about it" when asked how he felt about the couple's departure. "I was not a fan," Trump said.
"Look, I had a very good relationship with the Queen, really good, I got to know her very well. A really good relationship with King Charles…I've known him for a long time, he's a great guy. I thought they treated the Royal family with great disrespect." Trump added that if he were the royal family, he would not have taken Harry and Meghan back.
Newsweek reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment via email outside of U.K. working hours. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are keeping their California home, but have returned to the U.K. on an extended stay. Earlier in August, it was announced that Harry and Meghan had decided to relocate to Britain with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, after six years in the U.S.
Multiple outlets reported the family had enrolled their children in a British school beginning this autumn and planned to live at a private residence outside London rather than in royal accommodation. So far, the move does not appear to involve a return to official royal duties, with Harry and Meghan remaining private individuals and non-working royals, and no "half-in, half-out" arrangement that Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, rejected when they left royal life in 2020. Trump's comments Wednesday matched a position he has held for years.
His relationship with Meghan has been strained since before she married into the royal family. In 2016, the Los Angeles-born duchess described Trump as "divisive" and "misogynistic." When asked about those remarks during a 2019 interview, Trump responded: "I didn't know that she was nasty." Trump repeatedly criticized Harry and Meghan's treatment of the royal family following their Oprah Winfrey interview, Netflix projects and Harry's memoir Spare. This is a breaking news story.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech and Sam Wilson.
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