As far as President Donald Trump is concerned, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are a royal pain.
Asked what he thought of their return to Britain after a six-year sojourn in Montecito, California, Trump said he was “not a fan.”
“I’m happy about it,” Trump said in response to a question about the royal couple’s departure a week earlier during a Sept. 2 news conference with reporters in the Oval Office.
Harry and his American-born wife decamped to California from the United Kingdom amid simmering tensions with members of the royal family in early 2020.
Their exit was dubbed "Megxit" when the duo announced they would “step back as 'senior' members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent” in an Instagram post. The couple were
given the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex by Queen Elizabeth II on the day of their marriage in 2018.
Over their years stateside, the couple revealed institutional neglect, lack of support and internal royal family conflicts through an interview with Oprah Winfrey Interview and Harry's best-seller memoir "Spare".
“I thought they treated the royal family with great disrespect,” Trump said. “I didn't like it. I didn't like the way she acted. I thought she was terribly disrespectful to the queen, to King Charles.”
The couple’s two children Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, met Queen Elizabeth in June 2022 during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. The longest-reigning monarch in British history passed away just months later in September.
The children have now enrolled in British schools, according to British media.
When King Charles and Queen Camilla came to the United States for a four-day state visit hosted by Trump in April, they did not meet with Harry and Meghan. However, when the Sussexes traveled to the U.K. in July, they met King Charles and Queen Camilla.
“Maybe I'm different,” said Trump. “I wouldn't have taken him back. If I were the royal family, I would not have taken him back.”
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump says he's 'happy' Harry and Meghan have left the US
