Meghan Markle’s silence during the 2024 presidential election campaign signals a major shift for the couple compared to four years ago when they sparked a clapback from Donald Trump.
The Republican candidate and Democrat rival Kamala Harris will soon know how the votes will finally land after months of knife-edge campaigning.
And Harris has a slew of celebrity endorsements on her side, from Beyonce to Taylor Swift, though there is one notable past supporter missing—the Duchess of Sussex.
Meghan may have good reasons for not endorsing a candidate—or joining get the vote out initiatives—not least of all the fact Newsweek polling suggested an intervention would produce mixed results.
But it needless to say reflects just how significantly the pieces on the chessboard have moved in the last four years.
Kamala Harris and Meghan Markle are seen in a composite image. Meghan has kept tight-lipped about the election, in contrast to 2020.
Kamala Harris and Meghan Markle are seen in a composite image. Meghan has kept tight-lipped about the election, in contrast to 2020.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images and Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s 2020 Election
The duchess chose not to formally endorse a candidate in 2020 during a period in which the Sussexes were still hoping to achieve a half-in, half-out model for their future relationship with the royal family.
Meghan and later Harry did, however, back campaigns calling for Americans to go out and vote alongside statements that appeared to skew towards evicting Trump from the White House.
It started in June 2020 when Meghan gave a speech backing Black Lives Matter for graduates of her old high school Immaculate Heart urging them to channel their feelings about the death of George Floyd at the ballot box.
“You are going to lead with love, you are going to lead with compassion, you are going to use your voice,” she said. “You are going to use your voice in a stronger way than you’ve ever been able to because most of you are 18 or you’re going to turn 18 so you’re going to vote.”
And in reference to her decision to speak out, she said: “The only wrong thing to say is to say nothing.”
At the time, Harris responded on X, then known as Twitter: “‘The only wrong thing to say is to say nothing.’ Thank you, Meghan, for this powerful statement.”
Meghan’s speech was well received and sparked little if any backlash but criticism started to mount after she then joined a Democrat-organized voter drive and said she was “happy to be here for my friend Michelle Obama’s When We All Vote.”
The campaign was officially billed as politically neutral but featured senior Democrat officials and targeted a demographic known to lean blue.
Meghan told the Zoom call: “We all know what’s at stake this year. I know it. I think all of you certainly know it and if you’re here on this fun event with us then you are just as mobilized and energized to see the change we all need and deserve.”
And by September 2020, Harry had joined the conversation telling Time: “As we approach this November, it’s vital that we reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity.”
Donald Trump clapped back later that month telling a White House press briefing “I’m not a fan of hers,” and adding: “I would say this—and she probably has heard that—I wish a lot of luck to Harry, because he’s going to need it.”
Meanwhile, there were calls for them to be stripped of their royal titles to avoid the perception the British monarchy was intervening in a democratic election.
Meghan and Harry’s Silence in 2024
Since then, the Sussexes definitively lost any chance of half in, half out status when in February 2021 they were stripped of their honorary titles and patronages by Queen Elizabeth II.
And the schism between them and the royals became unmissable after their Oprah Winfrey interview, various other broadsides and Harry’s acknowledgment to Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes in January 2023 that he does not speak to his brother.
All of which should leave Harry and Meghan more free, not less free, to pick a side in the election. Yet they have been silent apart from a fairly simple statement from their foundation in September.
Public perception of them has also changed in that time, however, and particularly since the release of Harry’s book Spare, which precipitated a temporary collapse in their U.S. popularity.
Essentially, in four years, Meghan has gone from being subject to rumor she might one day run for president herself to a situation where polling for Newsweek shows a simple endorsement from the duchess might not help Harris anyway.
Redfield & Wilton asked a representative sample of 1,500 Americans in July on behalf of Newsweek whether they would be influenced by a Meghan and Harry endorsement.
And around 21 percent said they might be swayed to back said candidate but 20 percent said they might actually be put off by such a move, while 48 percent said it would make no difference.
And Edward Coram James, PR expert and chief executive of digital marketing agency Go Up, told Newsweek earlier this year: “I think it would have a negative impact on Kamala.
“The people that like Meghan Markle will probably already like and be voting for Kamala Harris.”
It is difficult to believe Meghan cares any less in 2024 than she did in 2020, suggesting the months leading up to election day must have been a difficult time for the Sussexes spent watching from the sidelines in a race where it is clear who they would want to win.
In an August 2020 conversation with Gloria Steinem, Meghan spoke about Kamala Harris and said: “I’m so excited to see that kind of representation. You know, for me, being biracial, growing up, whether it was a doll or a person in office, you need to see someone who looks like you in some capacity.
“As many of us believe, you can only be what you can see. And in the absence of that, how can you aspire to something greater than what you see in your own world? I think maybe now we’re starting to break through in a different way.”
Jack Royston is Newsweek’s chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek’s The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.