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Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, is reportedly nursing an ambition to become the first female president of the U.S., multiple sources have claimed.
A source with Washington links, identified as a former member of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s administration, claimed that Markle is planning to use the publicity generated by the Oprah interview to launch her political career, according to the Daily Mail.
The source also claimed that she is already networking with top Democrats to build her fundraising and campaign team.
During an appearance on ITV This Morning, Daily Telegraph Royal Editor Camilla Tominey said that the idea of Markle running for U.S. president has “ramped up” since her bombshell Oprah interview.
Tominey added that Markle has a better chance of winning a TV “celebrity deathmatch” against Trump in 2024.
According to the rumors circulating, Markle is eyeing 2024 due to expectations that President Joe Biden will not be able to run for a second term at 82.
Markle’s biographer Omid Scobie also claimed the Duchess wants to be president
This is not the first time that the claim has been made that Markle wants to run for the office of the U.S. president.
Omid Scobie, a friend of Meghan and Harry, who co-authored their biography, Finding Freedom, once claimed that Markle “has her eyes set on the US presidency,” and that “one day we may see Meghan becoming President.”
However, U.S. constitutional experts have reportedly said that Markle will have to renounce her title of Duchess of Sussex to run for public office in the U.S. because it conflicts with the country’s Oath of Allegiance, the Daily Mail reported.
Vanity Fair reported last year that a friend said Meghan wanted to be president
Vanity Fair also reported in September 2020 that a “close friend” of Markle said that one of the reasons she did not give up her U.S. citizenship after she moved to the U.K. was that she was considering entering U.S. politics in the future.
“I think if Meghan and Harry ever gave up their titles she would seriously consider running for president,” the friend reportedly said.
Vanity Fair first reported back in June 2020 that the Duchess was “weighing her options, but she reportedly wants to get involved [in politics] or maybe even run for president.”
Markle has been open about her political leanings
Although the Duchess of Sussex has so far not publicly commented on the rumors circulating in the media about her alleged political ambitions, she has been open about her political leanings in the past.
Ahead of the general election, she and Prince Harry made comments that were widely believed to be a thinly veiled attack against former President Trump.
They released a video in September in which they called on U.S. voters to “reject hate speech.”
Former President Trump reacts
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has responded to the rumors that Markle wants to run for president in 2024.
Trump, who has hinted in the past that he plans to run for president a second time in 2024, said he welcomed the news and that it would give him added incentive to run.
But he made it clear that he was “not a fan of Meghan.”
In other news, Michelle Obama, the former U.S. First Lady, said she hoped for “forgiveness and healing” for the Royal Family amid the tensions generated by Markle and Prince Harry’s Oprah interview.