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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Zoe Forsey

Queen's blunt question to Meghan Markle at first meeting appeared to break royal protocol

When Meghan Markle was told she was about to meet the Queen for the first time, she said "fun, I love Grandmas". She expected her first meeting with Prince Harry's grandmother to be like any other family introduction, and was shocked when she realised the formalities that went on behind the scenes in the royal family.

But after a crash course in curtsying from Sarah Ferguson and being taught the correct way to say Ma'am (rhymes with ham), the American actress made her way into Windsor Castle.

As she walked through the sitting room door, Meghan headed straight over to the Queen and performed a "deep, flawless" curtsy.

They exchanged pleasantries but it wasn't long before the late Monarch opted for a deeper question. In his book Spare, Harry claims: "Granny even asked Meg what she thought of Donald Trump. This was just before the November 2016 election, so everyone in the world seemed to be thinking and talking about the Republican candidate."

Meghan decided the Queen's question was a tricky one so changed the subject (Getty Images)

However Harry claims that Meghan, who spoke passionately about politics before joining the royal family, decided it was a risky subject for such an important meeting.

He claims that Meghan quickly changed the subject to Canada, discussing how she had lived in the Commonwealth country for seven years - to which the Queen "looked pleased".

The exchange will come as a surprise to royal fans, who are used to the royals staying well clear of political conversations.

But as she was a celebrity in her own right before meeting Harry, Meghan had already made her views on Trump very clear.

Before the 2016 election, which Trump went on to win, Meghan came out strongly in favour of his political rival, Hilary Clinton.

Meghan spoke out about Trump before meeting Prince Harry (AFP via Getty Images)

Have you read Spare? Let us know what you thought in the comment section below.

During an appearance on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore in May that year, Meghan suggested she would leave the US if Trump got into the White House.

"It's really the moment that I go, we film Suits in Toronto and I might just stay in Canada," she said on the Comedy Central show.

"I mean come on, if that's reality we are talking about, come on, that is a game changer in terms of how we move in the world here."

At the time, Meghan believed there would be enough momentum against Trump to stop him becoming President, but she was of course wrong.

"Yes of course Trump is divisive. Think about just female voters alone," she added.

Meghan hit out a trump in a pre-royal interview (Comedy Central / Splash News)

"I think it was in 2012, the Republican Party lost the female vote by 12 points. That's a huge number and with as misogynistic as Trump is and so vocal about it, that's a huge chunk of it.

"You're not just voting for a woman if it's Hillary 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."

But it doesn't seem like Trump was very interested in the opinion of the Suits actress at the time, as he didn't respond to her claims.

When Harry and Meghan married in May 2018, the Trumps were missing from the guestlist while the likes of David Beckham, Ophrah Winfrey and the Clooneys made the cut.

During an interview with long-time Meghan hater Piers Morgan before the big day, Trump said: "I want them to be happy. I really want them to be happy. They look like a lovely couple.

Piers then tried to stir the pot by bringing up Meghan's 'divisive misogynist' remark, but Trump wasn't going to be goaded.

He simply replied: "I still want them to be happy."

But things changed just a few months later when Trump was once again asked about the comments the duchess made about him.

It actually seemed that Trump was genuinely upset - but he managed to not fly off the handle.

"I didn't know that. What can I say," he replied, then added: "I didn't know that she was nasty."

This was during the former US President's state visit to the UK, when he met members of the royal family including the Queen for the first time.

Trump spoke about respect for the Queen ahead of his first State Visit in 2019 (PA)
They attended a number of engagements together (Getty Images)

He was then asked about Meghan's suggestion she would leave America for Canada if he was elected, to which he retorted: "A lot of people are moving here [to the US]."

Trump sweetly claimed Meghan would make "a very good" American princess, and said of her joining the royal family: "It is nice, and I am sure she will do excellently.

"She will be very good. I hope she does [succeed]."

Since leaving the royal family, Meghan and Harry have used their voices more to speak out about politics.

Ahead of the 2020 presidential elections, the couple gave an unprecedented speech urging Americans to vote and to "reject hate speech".

Trump his back, and during a press briefing he said: "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."

Meghan got her chance to reply when she was asked what it was like to be insulted by a sitting President during a filmed Fortune Magazine interview.

"If you look back at anything I've said, it's really interesting, what ends up being inflammatory it seems is peoples' interpretation of it. But if you listen to what I actually say it's not controversial," explained Meghan.

"And actually some of it is reactionary to things that just haven't happened, which in some ways you have to have a sense of humour about even though there's a lot of gravity.

"And there can be a lot of danger and misinterpretation of something that was never there to begin with. That again is a biproduct of what is happening to all of us."

  • Prince Harry's memoir Spare is out now in book shops and online.

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