Palace reacts to Prince Harry and Meghan’s comments on voting

Buckingham Palace has responded after Prince Harry and Meghan called on American voters to “reject hate speech and misinformation” in a video shared to social media on Wednesday.

Harry and Meghan appeared in the live video which appeared on primetime TV as part of Time Magazine’s annual list of the world’s most influential people.

Meghan called on fellow Americans to vote in the “most important election of our lifetime”, before Harry, who’s still a UK citizen, chimed in, saying: “This election I am not able to vote in the US. But many of you may not know that I haven’t been able to vote in the UK my entire life. As we approach this November, it’s vital that we reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex: "Congratulations to this year's transformative leaders and change makers. You work tirelessly to create a better world, a better global community for all of us" #TIME100 https://t.co/3aojLBhOVu pic.twitter.com/aqOkVUNFBX

— TIME (@TIME) September 23, 2020

Getting involved in politics is a big no-no for the royal family, however, both Harry and Meghan have stepped down from their roles as senior working royals and now live in the US.

The Times reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment, with a spokesperson telling the publication: “We would not comment. The Duke is not a working member of the Royal Family and any comments he makes are made in a personal capacity.” But one palace insider reportedly said Harry had “crossed the line”.

This isn’t the first time the pair have dipped their toes into politics. Last month, Meghan sat down to talk politics with renowned American journalist and feminist Gloria Steinem, 86, ahead of the US election. The Q&A-style piece was posted to the female empowerment platform known as Makers Women.

In the video, Steinem can be heard saying to the former actress: “Meg, welcome home. I’m so glad that you’re home.”

“Thank you,” Meghan said. “Me too, for so many reasons.”

The duchess then got stuck into politics, saying: “People forget how hard women like you and so many others before you fought for us to just be where we are right now.”

“If you don’t vote, you don’t exist,” Steinem said. “It is the only place we’re all equal, the voting booth. What worries me the most are young people, who I understand are the least likely to vote and I can understand the feeling that they don’t think they have an impact.”

Meghan also praised her husband by saying he was a self-proclaimed feminist who’s setting a “beautiful example” for their son by being so comfortable in his advocacy for women’s rights.

“I love that when he [Prince Harry] just came in [to the interview] he said, ‘You know that I’m a feminist too, right Gloria?! It’s really important to me that you know that’,” Meghan said. “I look at our son and what a beautiful example that he gets to grow up with a father who is so comfortable owning that as part of his own self-identification. That there’s no shame in being someone who advocates for fundamental human rights for everyone, which of course includes women.”