Meghan Markle has become the first modern royal to vote in the U.S. presidential election.
According to Page Six, the Duchess of Sussex voted early by mail, after spending months encouraging her fellow Americans to vote.
A source said: “Meghan was an American long before she was a royal. She wouldn’t miss voting in this election no matter where she was living.”
The news comes after Meghan and Prince Harry were criticised for speaking out about the U.S. election, as members of the Royal Family are advised against sharing their political views.
Back in September, Meghan and Harry encouraged Americans to vote in the upcoming election in an official video for TIME.
The couple have avoided endorsing any particular candidate, but during the video, they advised prospective voters to “reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity.”
“It’s time to not only reflect, but act.” This #NationalVoterRegistrationDay, join #Time100 alumni Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in taking action for the future. pic.twitter.com/JerXHxiZK3
— ABC (@ABCNetwork) September 23, 2020
After their comments hit headlines, a Republican congressman said the Duke and Duchess should be stripped of their royal titles.
US President Donald Trump also slammed Meghan during a press briefing, after he was asked about their comments regarding the election.
Trump replied: “I’m not a fan of hers and I would say this, and she has probably heard this, I wish a lot of luck to Harry — because he’s going to need it.”
“I wish a lot of luck to Harry because he’s going to need it.”
Donald Trump has taken a swipe at Meghan Markle after she and Prince Harry urged Americans to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
More here: https://t.co/MNeIj1DDM9 pic.twitter.com/euJMSTvB1i
— SkyNews (@SkyNews) September 24, 2020
That wasn’t the first time Trump has publicly criticised Meghan in the press.
During a previous interview with The Sun, which was published in May 2019, Trump was asked about comments Meghan made about him while he was running against Hilary Clinton back in 2016.
During an interview on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, the former actress called Trump “misogynistic”, and said she was thinking about moving to Canada if he won the election.
Responding to her comments, Trump replied: “I didn’t know that. No, I didn’t know that she was nasty.”
Then in January of this year, Trump spoke out about Meghan and Harry’s decision to step down as senior working members of the Royal family.
Speaking on Fox News, he said: “I don’t want to get into the whole thing but I find it — I just have such respect for the Queen. I don’t think this should be happening to her.”
“I think it’s sad, I do, I think it’s sad,” he added.
After the couple moved to Los Angeles with their 16-month-old son Archie in March, Trump took another pop at Meghan and Harry by tweeting about their security protection.
On March 29th, he tweeted: “It was reported that Harry and Meghan, who left the Kingdom, would reside permanently in Canada. Now they have left Canada for the U.S. however, the U.S. will not pay for their security protection. They must pay!”
In response, a spokesperson for the couple said they never intended to use the U.S.’s publicly-funded resources.
They said: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have no plans to ask the U.S. government for security resources. Privately funded security arrangements have been made.”
