Donald Trump has said he is “happy” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have now left the United States, singling out Meghan for being “terribly disrespectful” to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The US president was asked about Prince Harry and his wife one week after they left California for what has been described as an “extended stay” in Britain, with their two children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
US President Donald Trump says he’s “happy” Prince Harry and Meghan have left his country to live in Britain again. Getty
The Sussexes arrived in the UK last Wednesday on board a private plane that landed at Birmingham Airport.
Trump was asked about the royal couple during a meeting with journalists inside the Oval Office.
“I’m happy about it,” Trump told reporters about the couple’s move.
“I was not a fan. And I thought they treated the royal family with great disrespect.”
He added: “I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the way she acted. I thought she [Meghan] was terribly disrespectful to the queen, to King Charles.
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m different. I wouldn’t have taken them back.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are now living in Britain and their children will start school there, rumoured to be somewhere in the Cotswolds, in days. But Prince Harry and Meghan will remain private citizens and not return to working duties with the royal family.
The duke and duchess moved to the US in 2020 after leaving the UK, stepping back from their roles and settling in Montecito.
The US President was asked about Prince Harry and Meghan’s departure from California during a meeting with journalists in the Oval Office on Wednesday. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
There is no love lost between Trump and the duchess, with Meghan previously describing him as “misogynistic” and “divisive”.
In a video ahead of the 2020 election, she and Prince Harry urged voters to “reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity”, appearing to endorse Joe Biden.
Meghan described it as the “most important election of our lifetime”.
Trump has also said he is “no fan” of Meghan’s.
In February last year the president was dragged into the long-running saga over Prince Harry’s US visa issues.
The duke had faced a lengthy legal battle over whether he lied about drug-taking on his application after he later admitted to substance use in his memoir, Spare, published in January 2023.
What we know so far: Royal reporter breaks down Prince Harry and Meghan’s move
US-based Conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation had been pushing for the duke’s visa application to be made public, claiming he may have lied about his illegal drug use on immigration records or otherwise been given preferential treatment by former President Joe Biden in order to relocate to the US.
When asked whether he would have Prince Harry deported, Trump said he had no interest in revoking Harry’s visa and deporting him.
Speaking to the New York Post Trump said: “I don’t want to do that. I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”
The US president has long been smitten with Britain’s royal family and has publicly expressed his affection for King Charles, Prince William and the late Queen Elizabeth II.
He is the only US president to have had two state visits to the UK.
Donald Trump invited King Charles and Queen Camilla to the US for a state visit in April after he became the first US president to have two state visits to the UK. AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta
Speaking at Windsor Castle last year at the state dinner hosted by King Charles and Queen Camilla, Trump said: “It’s a singular privilege to be the first American president welcomed here”.
“This is truly one of the highest honours of my life, such respect for you and such respect for your country,” he said.
The president called King Charles a “very, very special man” while Prince William, he said, was “going to have unbelievable success in the future”.
Trump has previously called King Charles his “good friend”.
Trump’s affection for the British royal family is well-known and there is no love lost between him and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Getty
Trump made his first state visit to the UK when Elizabeth II was on the throne, in 2019.
In April, King Charles and Queen Camilla travelled to the US for the first state visit there of Charles’ reign, with many observers calling the monarch the “Trump Whisperer” owning to his unique role as a mediator of sorts between the two countries, who had been at odds for months over several key global issues.
Trump’s admiration for the royal family was inherited by his Scottish mother, Mary Anne MacLeod.
In Trump’s book The Art of the Deal he described his mother being “enthralled by the pomp and circumstance, the whole idea of royalty and glamour”.