Members of the Royal Family are expected to remain apolitical. Although it’s not completely forbidden for them to express their personal opinions, it is frowned upon. As Britain has a constitutional monarchy, complete neutrality enables the royals to fulfil their roles and represent the broad church that is the UK. Meghan has stepped down from her life on the royal frontline in recent months with her husband Prince Harry, but has still encountered a wave of fury when she took part in an online event, ‘When All Women Vote’ last week.
She urged the electorate to vote to “see the change we all need and deserve”.
While she did not mention any candidates, looking for “change” implies ousting incumbent US President Donald Trump out of the White House by supporting Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
Her comments have led prominent figures such as Piers Morgan to call for her to give up her remaining title of Duchess of Sussex.
Yet, the Queen has also been accused of intervening before an important public vote.
In September 2014, days before Scotland’s electorate voted on Scottish independence, the monarch expressed the hope that the public would “think very carefully”.
She made the remarks as she left her Scottish estate in Balmoral after the Sunday morning service, when a well-wisher joked that they would not mention the referendum.
The Queen told the member of the public: “Well, I hope people will think very carefully about the future.”
Unionists in Scotland saw her comments as a sign she was in favour of their cause and in line with then-Prime Minister David Cameron’s pro-union comments issued the following day.
He warned that independence would permanently split Scotland from the UK in a “once-and-for-all decision” which would see the countries “go our separate ways for ever”.
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“As the Queen has always said, this is a matter for the people of Scotland.”
Still, reports were circulating at the time that the Queen was horrified at the idea of losing Scotland — her favourite estate of Balmoral is based in Aberdeenshire as well —which led unionists to assume she supported them.
Indeed, Meghan’s previous comments regarding the US elections led commentators to assume she was backing the Democrats in her recent controversial comments.
Meghan’s aversion to the sitting President has been well-documented — in 2016, before she was a royal, she dubbed Mr Trump “misogynistic” and “divisive”, while he later called her “nasty”.
She then ducked out of attending the state banquet held in the President’s honour last summer.
While Meghan was on maternity leave, she was allowed to opt in and out of engagements as she saw fit.
Some have even speculated that Meghan is pursuing a much more political agenda with her upcoming charity work after commenting on Black Lives Matter a few months ago.
Others believe she even wants to run for presidency herself in the future, although that has not been confirmed.
