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'Domestic interference': Congressman asks British Email Address SUBMIT

government to strip Prince Harry and Meghan

Markle of titles if they don't stop commenting on
U.S. election
by Carly Ortiz-Lytle, Social Media Producer | % | October 09, 2020 05:00 PM

" $ # % &

00:01 01:11

A Missouri congressman has formally asked the British government to stop the Duke and
Duchess of Sussex from interfering in the presidential election.

Rep. Jason Smith, a Missouri Republican, sent a letter Friday to the British government
arguing that the couple’s comments urging Americans to vote and to “reject hate speech,
misinformation, and online negativity” constitute a “serious breach of the British Royal
Family’s policy of political neutrality and an inappropriate act of domestic interference by
one of our closest allies.”

“It is my view, the titles and privileges they retain by permission of Her Majesty the Queen,
given with the advice and consent of her government, prevent the Duke and Duchess
from separating comments made in a personal capacity from their official position within
the British Royal Family,” Smith wrote in a letter addressed to Karen Pierce, the British
Ambassador to the United States. “By allowing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to retain
their titles, and these political comments to continue, the British Government is effectively
condoning interference in the 2020 United States Presidential Election from officials at the
highest level of the British establishment.”

Smith closed his letter by requesting that the British government ensure Prince Harry and
Meghan Markle “no longer attempt to interfere” in the 2020 election or be “stripped of all
titles, styles, and privileges which they currently retain.”

Rep. Jason Smith

@RepJasonSmith

Prince Harry and Megan Markle are using foreign titles to

campaign against President Trump and interfere with our
election. Today, I asked the British Government to put a stop
to it.

See my full letter below

Are you in favor of

vote-by-mail?

YES NO

12:02 PM · Oct 9, 2020

5.5K 5K people are Tweeting about this

Recommended For You The couple released a video marking the

release of the Time 100 list, in which
Prince Harry urged Americans to “reject
hate speech, misinformation, and online
negativity" as the election approaches.
Markle called the 2020 election the
“most important election of our
lifetime.”

The president was asked about the

Casino closures hurting public health
systems in tribal nations
comments at a press briefing in
September. He said he was “no fan” of
Markle and added, “I wish a lot of luck to
Harry because he’s going to need it.”

Piers Morgan, an English broadcaster, called the video “completely unacceptable” and said
the comments were “ effectively telling Americans to vote against President Trump.”

Morgan wrote that the royals had "crossed a massive line which should now have serious
consequences for the couple who specialize in wanting their royal cake and the freedom
to eat it."

Corey Lewandowski, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said that the couple had
"made Britain great again by leaving" and hopes "they do the same for" the U.S.

The former actress has been heavily involved in “get-out-the vote” campaigns since
returning to the U.S. She cold-called voters with activist Gloria Steinem and revealed in a
discussion with Steinem that Joe Biden's selection of Kamala Harris as his running mate
made her "so excited."

In August, she participated in an event with When All Women Vote, an organization co-
founded by former first lady Michelle Obama, telling viewers that if they “aren’t part of the
solution, we’re part of the problem. If you’re complacent, you’re complicit.”

Markle has been a critic of the president, calling him “divisive” and “misogynistic” in a 2016
interview.

“Of course, Trump is divisive — think about female voters alone. I think it was in 2012. The
Republican Party lost the female vote by 12 points. That’s a huge number, and as
misogynistic as Trump is, and so vocal about it, that’s a huge chunk of it,” she told Larry
Wilmore. “You’re not just voting for a woman if it’s Hillary [Clinton]. Yes, you’re voting
because she’s a woman, but certainly, because Trump has made it easy to see that you
don’t really want that kind of world that he’s painting.”

Representatives for the British Royal Family, the

Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and the British
Embassy in Washington did not respond to the
Washington Examiner’s request for comment.

News Prince Harry Meghan Markle Royals Campaign 2020 2020 Elections Congress

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