As the world wakes up to Donald Trump taking back the US Presidency, there are hundreds of questions about what a Republican government will mean for America and the world.
There will be individual concerns too and, given comments made by the Trump camp during the election and before, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will surely be wondering if there are going to be any immediate implications for them.
In fact, given their past relationship with the new President, there could well be cause for concern about their new life in Montecito.
HARRY’S VISA ROW
Trump, who was a huge admirer of the Queen and the royal family in general, has previously weighed in on Prince Harry’s US visa application.
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This came under enormous scrutiny after he admitted in his memoir Spare to using cocaine, smoking marijuana, and experimenting with magic mushrooms as a teenager.
A lawsuit was also submitted to make Prince Harry’s visa application public and check whether this drug use was disclosed, but this was later overruled by a judge.
Recently, Trump claimed the Biden administration had been “too gracious” to Harry since his 2020 move to California with Meghan.
He told the Express: “I wouldn’t protect him. He betrayed the Queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me.”
Days later, Trump was also challenged on Harry during an interview on GB News.
He was asked if there would be any “special privileges” for the prince, and the Trump said: “No. We’ll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied they’ll have to take appropriate action.”
“Appropriate action? Which might mean…not staying in America?” the interviewer probed.
Trump responded: “Oh I don’t know. You’ll have to tell me. You just have to tell me. You would have thought they would have known this a long time ago.”
IS ERIC TRUMP A FAN OF HARRY AND MEGHAN?
Trump’s son, Eric, has been less interested in all the Prince Harry drama, claiming the only reason Prince Harry’s US Visa is safe is because “no one cares” about him.
“Truthfully I don’t give a damn about Prince Harry and I don’t think this country does either. My father loved the Queen and I think the monarchy is an incredibly beautiful thing,” he said a week before the election, adding that despite the arguments regarding Harry’s visa, he did not think it should be revoked.
“I don’t give a damn if he did drugs. It means nothing,” he said.
WHAT MEGHAN SAYS ABOUT DONALD TRUMP
Things seem more personal between Trump and the Sussexes, with Meghan and Harry’s being vocal critics of the new president in the past.
In 2016, before Meghan had even met Prince Harry she told a US chat show that she found Trump to be “misogynistic” and “divisive.”
She explained: “You don’t really want that kind of world,” adding that the prospect of him in the White House left her thinking: “I might just stay in Canada.”
Once she and Prince Harry were married, the pair, as royals, were expected to remain politically neutral, but they still didn’t hold back.
In 2019 the pair reportedly declined to be photographed with Trump on a UK visit and, during the 2020 Biden campaign for the White House, Meghan and Harry appeared in a video urging people to vote.
Harry said that they should “reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity” which many believed at the time to be a thinly veiled swipe at Trump.
Meghan called the race: “the most important election of our lifetime”.
WHAT DONALD TRUMP SAID ABOUT MEGHAN AND HARRY
Buckingham Palace later distanced itself from Harry’s comment, claiming as he was no longer a working royal, his statements were made in “a personal capacity”.
But Trump was reportedly not happy.
“I’m not a fan of hers,” he said at a White House press briefing in 2020. “I would say this – and she probably has heard that – I wish a lot of luck to Harry, because he’s going to need it.”
He went on to say the Sussexes “must pay” for their security costs, after it was revealed the Sussexes had relocated from Canada to Los Angeles.
After losing that 2020 vote, Trump hit out at Harry in several interviews when he was asked about the Royal Family.
In 2021 he told Nigel Farage that he thought Harry had been “used horribly” and that his marriage “ruined his relationship with his family” and that it “hurts the Queen”.
Later, speaking to Piers Morgan in 2022, Trump said “Harry is whipped like no person I think I’ve ever seen” and that Meghan will likely leave him “when she decides that she likes some other guy better.”
What will happen now is anyone’s guess. But, Prince Harry and Meghan may be feeling concerned about what the future might hold for them.
In October it was reported the Sussexes had bought a property in Portugal and, royal expert Hugo Vickers recently commented it would be a good “backup plan” for the couple if Mr Trump decides to kick Harry out of the US.
Mr Vickers told The Sun: “I think it’s very wise to take all the possibilities into account. Looking at it from the outside, it makes perfect sense that they should have a backup plan.”
