Harry continues to spread controversy – Ellie Hewes
Undoubtably, many of you would have heard in March that Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, took the decision to stop their royal duties. They moved to California and aimed to work towards financial self-sufficiency. At the time, this caused much controversy, however it seems that the pair have created more controversy in the past week when they commented on the US Presidential election, which is set to take place in the next few months.
The Presidential election is an event which is highly publicised due to the impact it has globally. The election will invariably effect some of the policies which the US are currently implementing as the major superpower and regional hegemon of the Western Hemisphere. Donald Trump is being challenged by Joe Biden, who is best known for being Barack Obama’s vice-President. The winner of this election is scheduled to be inaugurated in late January. Trump or Biden would be the oldest person to be elected President in America’s history and if elected, Biden would be the oldest person to serve as President at 78 years of age.
Amidst the environment of tension which already encapsulates America currently, Meghan and Harry decided to issue a statement which urged Americans to vote in this election, which Meghan declared was “the most important election of our lifetime”. Harry explained how “its vital that we reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity”, and Meghan was soon to support the statement, pointing out how “when we vote, our values are put into action, our voices are heard”.
Although the pair didn’t explicitly mention either of the candidates in their statements, many have believed that their message was aimed at Trump, in order to help Biden secure the position. Trump’s administration is commonly accused of the traits called out in Harry’s statement. As one can imagine, Trump was certainly not pleased when he heard news about this report. Trump started to explain how he “is not a fan of hers [Meghan Markle]”. He further states in response, mockingly that he “wish[es] a lot of luck to Harry, because he’s gonna need it”. Unlike Harry, Meghan has been appearing regularly at online events over the past few moths, encouraging women to vote in this election and in the past, before she had Royal connections, she is believed to have stated that Trump was “misogynistic” and “divisive”.
It is typically seen as Royal protocol that the Royals do not vote in elections, in order to portray political neutrality. Due to this, Buckingham Palace has decided to distance themselves even further from Harry, which was termed as “a significant public intervention”. His comments have caused much debate, with some believing that due to the fact that he is no longer a working member of the Royal family, he is allowed to make such comments. However, others believe that he still represents the United Kingdom and therefore, should not be telling US citizens to vote as he did. Though he didn’t explicitly reference either party, it is clear who he is not supporting.
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