Harry and Meghan refrain from endorsing Harris; critics fume anyway

During the 2020 presidential race, Meghan Markle told friend Gloria Steinem that she was “so excited” to see mixed-race Kamala Harris running to be Joe Biden’s vice president. She and Prince Harry also recorded a get-out-the-vote message to their fans, with Harry saying, “it’s vital that we reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity.”

While the couple didn’t explicitly endorse the Biden/Harris ticket in 2020, the “hate speech” reference seemed directed at Donald Trump and his inflammatory rhetoric. The GOP candidate consequently was among their many detractors who criticized them for taking sides and ridiculed Harry for trying to intervene in American politics.

For the 2024 election, Meghan and Harry have once again issued a get-out-the-vote message, and this year they’ve tried to be purposefully non-partisan. But once again their critics are fuming.

“By encouraging people to vote they are essentially ballot harvesting for Kamala,” Greg Swenson, a London-based financier and chairman of Republicans Overseas UK  told the Daily Mail. “They can’t help themselves.”

Swenson also accused the couple of using this get-out-the-vote message to endear themselves to the “Hollywood woke elites,” as they struggle to establish themselves as media moguls and influential public figures.

“Every move Harry and Meghan make is carefully orchestrated to keep them popular among their circle of elites,” Swenson said. “Most woke Hollywood elites are voting for Kamala — but I’m surprised they haven’t outright endorsed her.”

The Telegraph reported that Harry and Meghan issued their get-out-the-vote message through their Archewell Foundation to mark National Voter Registration Day. On Tuesday, the foundation revealed that its staff had sent out personalized letters to unregistered voters, insisting that “every voice matters.”

But The Telegraph said the letters stopped short of endorsing a candidate and used language that tried to sound nonpartisan. The letters, for example, said, “Voting is not just a right; it’s a fundamental way to influence the fate of our communities.”

Speaking out about politics is tricky for the British prince and his American wife, because UK protocol demands political neutrality from members of the British royal family. Indeed, Harry revealed in their 2020 recorded message that he has never been able to vote in the U.K. for his “entire life.” Harry, of course, also can’t vote in U.S. elections because he’s not a U.S. citizen.

This expectation of neutrality apparently still holds for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, even though they stepped away from royal duties in 2020, moved to California and began to speak more freely about issues they care about.

But even if Harry and Meghan have publicly refrained from endorsing the Democratic ticket of Harris and Tim Walz, neither the couple’s fans nor their critics believe that they are privately neutral when it comes to politics or this U.S. presidential race.