President Trump has never had much patience for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Now that they are finally gone, he is making his feelings crystal clear.
And what Trump said about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on their way out the door is something the royal family probably needed to hear years ago.
Trump Speaks His Mind in the Oval Office
Speaking to reporters at the White House, President Trump said he was “very happy about it” when asked how he felt about Harry and Meghan’s departure from California and their return to the United Kingdom after six years.
“I was not a fan,” Trump said flatly.
He went further, describing his view of how the couple treated the British monarchy. “I thought they treated the Royal family with great disrespect,” Trump said, adding that he “didn’t like it.”
And then came the line that probably stung a little in Buckingham Palace. Trump told reporters that if he were in the position of the royal family, he would not have welcomed the couple back. “If I were the Royal family, I would not have taken them back,” he said.
He softened none of it. “Maybe I’m different, I wouldn’t have taken them back,” Trump added.
Trump also made a point of separating his feelings about Harry and Meghan from his feelings about King Charles. He described Charles as a “great, great guy” and noted a long, warm relationship with the British monarchy going back years. His criticism was aimed squarely at the couple, not the institution.
Six Years in California, Then a Quiet Exit
Harry and Meghan stepped away from their roles as working royals in 2020 and eventually settled in Montecito, California, where they built what appeared to be a permanent life outside the palace walls.
That chapter is now closed, at least for now. The couple recently announced they were leaving their Montecito mansion and relocating to a private, non-royal residence outside London, as first reported by the Daily Telegraph and the Sun. Their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, made the move with them and are enrolled to begin at a British school when the new academic year gets underway.
The couple is not returning to working royal life. Harry has shown no interest in resuming official duties, and the return is being treated as a private family matter rather than any kind of reconciliation with the palace in a formal sense.
But Harry has also shown no interest in giving up his title, his place in the line of succession, or the privileges that come with the royal name. He wants the benefits of the institution he spent years publicly criticizing, without the obligations that go with it.
That is a posture Trump clearly finds hard to respect.
A Long Record of Speaking Plainly About This Couple
Trump’s comments are not new territory for him. He has been consistent on Harry and Meghan for years, and his position has never really shifted.
Meghan called Trump “divisive” and “misogynistic” during the 2016 presidential race, before she was even a member of the royal family. Trump later described her past comments about him as “nasty.” That history did not exactly lay the groundwork for goodwill.
Trump also made clear over the years that he had deep affection for the late Queen Elizabeth II and has consistently praised King Charles. His view of Harry and Meghan has always been framed against that backdrop. They disrespected people Trump respected. That matters to him.
What he said in the Oval Office recently was entirely in keeping with what he has said privately and publicly for years. The couple treated the monarchy badly, they spent years building a media empire off grievances against the institution that gave them their platform, and now they are quietly moving back to the country they left in dramatic fashion.
Trump noticed. And he said exactly what a lot of people were thinking.
What This Tells You About the Sussex Brand
The return to the UK raises a question that nobody in the press seems particularly eager to ask directly. If the royal family and British life were so suffocating, so racist, so impossible to bear, what exactly are they going back to?
Six years of Netflix deals, podcast contracts, tell-all interviews, and a memoir that aired grievances against nearly everyone in the palace produced a media empire that appears to have run its course. The Montecito chapter generated enormous attention and, for a time, enormous revenue. But the Sussex brand built on royal resentment has a natural ceiling. Once the audience has heard every complaint, the product stops selling.
And so they are going back.
Harry still holds his title. His children hold theirs. Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet remain in the line of succession. The family that was allegedly so toxic and so harmful to their wellbeing is now the same family they are returning to live near, enrolling their kids in British schools, and quietly trying to rebuild some version of a relationship with.
Trump’s observation that he would not have taken them back is the kind of blunt assessment that most people in diplomatic circles are too careful to say out loud. But it reflects something real about how a lot of people, on both sides of the Atlantic, view the whole saga.
You do not spend years publicly attacking an institution, accusing it of racism, stripping away its private family moments for entertainment content, and then expect a warm welcome home without anyone noticing the contradiction.
King Charles is dealing with a serious illness. Reports indicate that Harry’s desire for his children to spend time with their grandfather, and the limited time potentially available, played a role in accelerating the move. That is a human and understandable motivation. But it does not erase the years of public commentary that preceded it.
Trump said he was “happy about it” that they left the United States. He was not being cruel. He was being honest about a situation that the media spent years treating as more complicated than it actually was.
A couple that walked away from everything, built a brand on the grievance, and is now quietly walking back toward what they left. And a President who noticed, said so plainly, and moved on.
That about covers it.
Sources: Breitbart News; The Hill; Newsweek; NBC News; Santa Monica Observer; Hola