A number of people sympathized with Meghan Markle’s decision last June to cite her maternity leave as a reason to skip meeting President Donald Trump during his state visit to the U.K. After all, Trump nearly incited a diplomatic incident with America’s British allies by calling Meghan “nasty” in an interview several days before his visit.
Now, a number of Meghan’s fans have taken to Twitter to express delight that the U.S.-born duchess “secretly” hosted Trump’s political rival, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at her Windsor Castle home, Frogmore Cottage, according to a report from the Daily Mail.
Clinton also is one of Trump’s “nasty” women. When Trump famously called Clinton a “nasty woman” during the third presidential debate in 2016, his comment launched a feminist meme and rallying cry for women to vote against him in the election.
Trump’s remark about Meghan came when he learned in an interview with The Sun that she had called him “divisive” and “misogynistic” during the 2016 election.
“I didn’t know that,” Trump said. “What can I say? I didn’t know that she was nasty.”
But by hosting a private get-together with Clinton, Meghan has opened herself up for criticism from the U.K media or from people online who don’t like Clinton, or who will say she appears to be taking political sides by meeting with Clinton after finding an excuse to avoid Trump.
Columnists and royal experts might say that Meghan should still abide by protocol that says that royals need to avoid publicly expressing political viewpoints. They could also say that duty requires royal family members to sometimes put on a brave face, smile and exchange pleasantries with people they may not like or agree with.
From the Daily Mail report, it sounds like Meghan had no trouble putting on a smile for Clinton.
These two world-famous women, who both know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of fierce media attention, apparently had a lovely visit on Tuesday afternoon. A source told the Daily Mail they “have a lot of admiration for each other” and are “mutual fangirls.” Prince Harry reportedly joined the women for a bit, and Clinton got “in some cuddles” with the couple’s seven-month-old son Archie, the Daily Mail added.
Some on Twitter gave the meeting a thumbs up:
That was wonderful of her to support Megan at this time. Women uplifting other women and not bringing them down.
— SOUNDWAVE (@cygma01) November 15, 2019
She is a perfect role model for Meghan to follow! A Woman that has been.hounded and accused of wrongdoing for more than 30 years and is still strong and holds her head high!
— Teri Taveras (@teritd) November 15, 2019
Another person made note of the fact that Meghan had decided to meet Clinton before meeting Trump, tweeting: “Can’t wait for the orange one to find out Hillary met Archie before he did.”
The visit coincided with Clinton raving about Meghan Tuesday in a BBC radio interview, while discussing the fierce media attention the new duchess has faced from the British media, People reported.
“Oh my God, I want to hug her!” Clinton said Tuesday. “I feel as a mother. I just want to put my arms around her. I want to tell her to hang in there, don’t let those bad guys get you down. Keep going, do what you think is right.”
Prince Harry made headlines when he turned up solo for the Buckingham Palace luncheon for Trump and his entourage, while Meghan begged off and stayed home with newborn Archie. Harry also has reasons to not like Trump. The former celebrity real estate mogul made lewd comments about Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, in a radio interview with Howard Stern in 1997, the year she was killed in a Paris car crash. Trump agreed with Stern’s comment that he could have “nailed” Diana.
When Harry was at Buckingham Palace, he may have exchanged pleasantries with Trump, even though he visibly tried to distance himself from the president and looked uncomfortable when he was photographed during a brief interaction with Ivanka Trump.
Meghan’s 2016 views about Trump were widely shared, especially after the lewd Access Hollywood tape was published just before the election. On the recording, Trump boasted about sexually assaulting women. Before and after the election, multiple women also came forward to accuse Trump of sexual harassment or assault.
But again, Meghan is now a member of the royal family, not a private citizen or just another regular celebrity, so criticism of her spending time with Trump’s political rival is inevitable.
One of Meghan and Harry’s most outspoken critics, TV host Piers Morgan, took the couple to task earlier in the week in a Daily Mail column because they are opting to skip the queen’s Christmas celebrations and spend the holidays with her mother. Morgan berated them for being “entitled,” “spoiled brats” who seem determined to do things their way and then complain about the negative press.
An example of the couple going their own way, Morgan said, was when Meghan skipped Trump’s visit.
“Despite being the only American member of the royal family, she deliberately snubbed President Trump’s state visit, yet appeared at the queen’s birthday celebration two days later,” said Morgan, who is known to have friendly views of Trump.
Indeed, Meghan’s maternity leave excuse many no longer hold up, given that Vanity Fair and other outlets have recently reported that she worked through much of her maternity leave, guest editing the September issue of British Vogue and overseeing the launch of a new clothing collection for the charity Smart Works with her fashion designer friend Misha Nonoo.
Morgan wrote, “Harry and Meghan can bleat all they like about the ghastly press, and line up all their celebrity ‘friends’ from George Clooney to Hillary Clinton to defend them.”
