Calls for Meghan Markle to have royal titles stripped after political statement

There are fresh calls for Meghan Markle to have her remaining royal titles stripped for 'meddling' in US politics after the Duchess of Sussex weighed in on President Joe Biden's pick of Ketanji Brown Jackson as Supreme Court Justice.

The former actress has been living with husband Prince Harry and their two children in California and has been becoming increasingly vocal about US politics.

Speaking about the nomination of Judge Jackson, Meghan told Anita Hill for URL Media: "Judge Jackson’s nomination has opened new ground for women’s representation at the highest level of a judicial system that for too long has tilted against the very community she hails from.

"For the millions of young women who will rightfully find inspiration from this moment, let’s remind ourselves that Black achievement is something that exists not just today or yesterday, and not just in moments of celebration, but as a fabric woven into the entire chronicle of the American story."

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Anita said the pair had "recently connected" and added that there was "a measure of parallelism given her experience navigating uncharted territory as a Black woman".

It comes as speculation has been growing that Meghan sees herself eventually working in a political position in the future.

Last year, Meghan made a number of public calls for compulsory paid family leave in the US, including during her interview with Ellen DeGeneres in November.

At the time, Meghan said she would do "everything" in her power to change US policy.

She caused controversy when she cold-called US senators on their private phones, using her royal title to urge them to vote in favour of paid leave.

Republican Representative Jason Smith of Missouri slammed Meghan for interfering with US politics and called for her titles to be stripped to stop her from using them for political leverage.

"I think that people truly forget, or don't even know that in this country, it's one of the only six countries in the entire world and the only wealthy nation in the entire world that does not mandate and have a federal paid leave programme," Meghan told Ellen on the show.

"Everybody knows, especially if you have had a child and even if you haven't, you know how hard it is and how critical it is in those first few weeks if not months to be together as a family.

"And the fact that we don't offer that here is something that now as a mom of two, I will do everything that I can to make sure that we can implement that for people."

Meghan has insisted she's not playing politics by calling for paid parental leave, instead, she has described it as a "humanitarian issue".

Speaking at the New York Times DealBook summit, she said: "I don't see this as a political issue frankly.

"There is a precedent among my husband's family, the royal family, of not having any involvement in politics. From my standpoint, this is a humanitarian issue."

According to the Daily Mail, rumours began circulating that Meghan had planned on using the furore of the Oprah Winfrey interview to launch a political career.

Buckingham Palace tries to distance the royal family from Harry and Meghan's previous political remarks and issued a statement during the US election saying that "the Duke is not a working member of the Royal Family", describing his comments as "made in a personal capacity".

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