Meghan Markle makes royal history by voting in US election

Meghan Markle has made royal history after it was confirmed she will vote in the US presidential election.

The Duchess of Sussex and husband Prince Harry had already broken royal protocol by campaigning to encourage people in the US to vote and now a source close to Meghan confirmed she “is voting in this election”.

Meghan has thrown herself into campaigning since returning to her home state of California earlier this year.

She and Harry, who cannot vote in the US, have made multiple public statements encouraging Americans to vote, which has drawn some criticism on both sides of the Atlantic.

Members of the British Royal Family are not explicitly banned from voting, but avoid doing so to ensure political neutrality.

However the Queen has previously spoken about voting, encouraging Welsh voters to engage with democracy during a year of particularly low turnout in the Assembly elections.

Prince Harry and Meghan moved to California, where Meghan grew up, in March. She quickly got involved in encouraging people to vote, though she was careful not to directly endorse any particular candidate.

In September, at the Time 100 event, Harry broke his silence on American politics, saying: “This election I’m not going to be able to vote here in the US.

“Many of you may not know that I haven’t been able to vote in the UK my entire life.

“As we approach this November it’s vital we reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity.”

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The prince also did not name a specific candidate or party, in his comments.

Meghan, 39, had previously called Donald Trump, the current president and Republican candidate, “divisive” and “misogynistic”, before she married Harry.

Harry and Meghan’s comments were badly received in the UK, with various polls showing a majority of respondents thought they should be stripped of their royal titles.

A YouGov poll of more than 3,000 adults in Britain found more than a quarter of people said they should keep their titles, while 25% did not know, and nearly half said they should lose them.

A Tatler poll released in September found 68% agreed Harry and Meghan should have their titles as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex taken from them after stepping down as working royals and moving to the US.

Though the pair never named a candidate they backed, many argued their status as former royals in the UK means they should not weigh into the election in any capacity, and that some of the statements seemed to swing towards the Democrats.

As a member of the royal family, Harry has never voted in the UK as royals are required to remain politically neutral. He is not a citizen of the US and, therefore, won’t be casting a vote this election either.

Many members of the Belgian royal family can and do vote, with only the reigning King and Queen exempt from casting a ballot.

Additional reporting by Rebecca Taylor.

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