Interest in all things Meghan Markle and the British Royal Family has been rising since the former’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey. That chat raised many questions about the inner workings of the House of Windsor and about what Prince Harry and Markle plan to do a long-term now that they’re no longer working Royals. That last question has attracted particularly interest among the press and has led to a wide variety of speculation including that the former Suits star is planning to run for President in 2024.
The Presidential talk actually stretches back prior to the Winfrey interview. Last September, Vanity Fair ran an article saying she would seriously consider running for President and quoted an unnamed friend saying that’s why she didn’t renounce her US Citizenship when she married Prince Harry. The comments didn’t really make a huge splash at the time, but they’re picking up traction again after the Winfrey interview thanks to speculation from The Daily Mail. The outlet claims she’s been networking with leading Democrats and is eyeing a 2024 Presidential run if President Joe Biden decides to step aside, and since the article was first published, the speculation has been picked up by other outlets, as well. So, what’s going on?
Well, it’s hard to watch the Meghan Markle/ Oprah Winfrey chat and not see potential options, political or otherwise. Markle has a relatable way of communicating and she is willing to bring up larger, uncomfortable topics of conversation. As a British royal and a popular actress, she has communication skills, life experience on the world stage and a lot of natural charisma. If you can use Twitter as a gauge, she’s also well-liked by at least a percentage of the general public. As Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump and others have proven in the past, having name recognition can help quite a bit in US politics.
Given all that, it’s not ridiculous for some of these conversations to be happening about Markle’s political future, but everyone hoping for a Presidential run should also temper their enthusiasm quite a bit right now. While Markle does have the built in advantages outlined above, there’s also no reason to think she has politics on the mind or is planning to run for anything in the near future. She recently announced a partnership with Netflix to create content. Constitutional experts say she would likely need to give up her Royal Title (Duchess Of Sussex) in order to run, and it’s unclear whether she would want to attract the kind of attention that would come with a political run given how badly she was mistreated by the British tabloids.
There’s also the factor of her age. She’s currently 39. The youngest ever President, Teddy Roosevelt, was 42, and there’s, of course, her lack of political experience. Trump and others have proven that’s not necessarily a dealbreaker for voters, but it’s still the exception and not the rule. Once you add all of that together, it’s probably fair to say there’s a little smoke here but not a full-blown fire. It’s entirely possible Markle runs at some point in the future, but there’s just not enough evidence to say that’s likely right now.
And she’s not exactly the only celebrity to deal with political rumors or answer questions about them. Dwayne The Rock Johnson has gotten plenty of that talk over the past few years, as has the woman Markle recently interviewed with: Oprah Winfrey, who periodically gets asked. So, until we hear something directly out of her mouth, I’m going to treat all of this as rumor.
