President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he was glad to see Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave the United States, adding that if he were the royal family, he would have shut the door behind them.
Trump's blunt remarks, delivered on August 31, came days after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex flew back to England on a private jet with their two children, seven-year-old Archie and five-year-old Lilibet. The couple had reportedly spent weeks, if not months, planning their exit from Southern California, where they had lived in a $14 million mansion since stepping back from royal duties years ago.
Asked about the departure, Trump did not hedge. He told the press pool flatly: "I'm happy about it."
He went further, aiming his sharpest criticism at Markle's conduct toward the British monarchy.
"I thought they treated the royal family with great disrespect. I didn't like it. I didn't like the way she acted. I thought she was terribly disrespectful to the Queen, to King Charles."
Then came the line that left no room for interpretation: "I wouldn't have taken them back. Frankly, if I were the royal family, I wouldn't have taken them back."
Harry, 41, and Markle, 45, touched down in England last week and are reportedly staying on an estate in the Cotswolds, a well-heeled stretch of the English countryside. The property belongs to Ian Wace, the CEO of Marshall Wace LLP, whose net worth is estimated at $1.2 billion. Wace reportedly helped finance the couple's return to the United Kingdom.
The family is said to be house-hunting for a permanent residence in the countryside. Both children will attend a local school. The couple does not have public security, a detail that remains unexplained. Whether that means they are relying on private protection or going without altogether is unclear from available reporting.
What drove the move remains only partly explained. The couple had been planning their departure for some time, but no named source has laid out a specific trigger. What is known is that their years in California produced a string of ventures, book deals, a Netflix arrangement, political positioning, even a jam brand, none of which the source describes as successful, though no specific financial figures are cited to measure those outcomes.
Trump's pointed comments carry weight partly because of his unusually close relationship with the monarchy. Queen Elizabeth II hosted him for a state visit during his first term. King Charles did the same during his second. And in April, Trump hosted Charles and Queen Camilla at the White House, making him one of the rare American presidents to receive a double state visit from the British royals.
That personal rapport makes Trump's criticism of Markle's behavior toward the Queen and King Charles more than casual commentary. He framed it as a matter of respect, not politics, not immigration status, not tabloid gossip. He said he "was not a fan," and his reasoning centered on how the couple treated the institution that gave them their titles.
The friction between Trump and Markle is not new. Fox News reported that Trump called Markle "nasty" back in 2019 and described her as "terrible" as recently as February of last year. The mutual animosity has been public and sustained for years, making his Oval Office remarks less a sudden broadside than the latest chapter in a long-running dispute.
Breitbart noted that the couple relocated from their Montecito, California, mansion to a private, non-royal residence outside London. Archie and Lilibet are enrolled in a British school. The family is not returning to any official royal property, a detail that underscores how far the rift between Harry and the crown has gone, even as the family physically returns to English soil.
Trump's advice to the royals was characteristically direct. He did not soften it with diplomatic qualifiers or leave it to inference. He said, plainly, that the royal family should not have welcomed them back, and that he, in their position, would not have done so.
Whether King Charles shares that view is unknown. The palace has not responded publicly to Trump's remarks, and no official British statement appears in any of the reporting. The couple's return to England is, for now, a private matter conducted with a billionaire's backing and without the monarchy's visible embrace.
Several questions remain unanswered. Who specifically is funding the family's security? What are the terms of their stay on Wace's estate? And what, precisely, does "not having public security" mean for a family that includes two young children and one of the most recognizable women on the planet?
None of that stopped Trump from rendering his verdict. He kept it short and left it standing: "I'm happy about it."
When people show you how they treat the institutions that elevated them, believe them. Trump did.