Being a royal comes with many obligations — and while we’ve largely focused on those imposed on Meghan Markle during her pregnancy, the time has come for Prince Harry to shoulder a burden it seems he’d rather not. Donald Trump arrived at Buckingham Palace earlier today as part of his UK state visit, where he met with the Queen for lunch and a tour of the picture gallery. Also in attendance were Melania, Ivanka and Jared Kushner, as well as a small collection of other royals, including Princes William and Harry. On Saturday, Trump called Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle “nasty” in an interview to The Sun, sparking questions of whether Harry would bow out of the upcoming engagement. Duty prevailed, it seems — but Harry’s body language and distance from Trump indicate the quote is far from forgotten.
Prince Harry, who was also at the private lunch, noticeably hung back. He walked in with Ivanka (was he supposed to show her round the exhibition?? or maybe they sat next to each other at lunch) and then drifted off to talk to the Lord Chamberlain (the Earl Peel). pic.twitter.com/NLyfNvkZx6
— Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) June 3, 2019
Prince Harry has plenty of reasons to avoid Trump entirely https://t.co/wtcRC9WtY2
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) June 3, 2019
Since reporters were banned from the lunch itself, we have no idea how friendly or unfriendly Harry was during the actual meal — but photos of the Duke of sussex during the tour show that he “noticeably hung back,” per Sun reporter Emily Andrews. Andrews mused on whether Harry was intended to show Ivanka around the exhibition, noting that he “drifted off to talk to the Lord Chamberlain” shortly after guiding her into the room. While William and Kate Middleton are expected to attend the state dinner with Trump tonight, Harry will not be in attendance there.
The audio of Trump calling Markle “nasty” is posted on The Sun — though Trump denies it ever happened. The quote comes after The Sun inquires about Trump’s opinion of Markle, sharing that she’d supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and referred to Trump as “misogynistic” and “divisive” at the time. “I didn’t know that. What can I say? I didn’t know that she was nasty,” Trump replied. A week back, it was announced that Markle would not be meeting with the Trumps during their visit, citing that Archie would “be less than a month old at the time” and implying that Markle would want to stay by her son’s side.
Trump was also shown the pewter horse that he’d given the Queen last year in his visit to Windsor. He was asked if he recognised it and he said “no”! Melania came to his rescue and said “I think we gave that to the Queen”. pic.twitter.com/SaIXvhUb7P
— Emily Andrews (@byEmilyAndrews) June 3, 2019
This wasn’t Trump’s only hiccup on this state visit. Eight hours ago, he tweeted at London mayor Sadiq Khan, calling him a “stone cold loser” for his criticisms ahead of the POTUS’s arrival. In a slightly more lighthearted faux pas, Trump apparently also failed to recognize a pewter horse he’d gifted to the Queen last year. “He was asked if he recognised it,” Andrews tweeted. “And he said “no”! Melania came to his rescue.” You can’t accuse Trump of being boring — but if you’re Prince Harry, there are a number of other adjectives that likely come to mind.
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