Meghan Markle approved Irish abortion vote, senator claims

The Duchess of Sussex has reportedly expressed her opinion on abortion. Because she is now part of the royal family, the former Meghan Markle is discouraged from voicing their opinions on social and political issues, but she has appeared to have inadvertently done that while in Ireland with Prince Harry.

The British royals are expected to be neutral at all times. However, according to Irish Senator Catherine Noone, Meghan let it slip that she was “pleased” about Ireland voting to repeal the 8^th amendment in May. The Eighth Amendment recognised the life of a mother and the unborn. This was repealed in a referendum in May, abolishing one of the strictest abortion laws in the world.

Noone met the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Dublin on Tuesday. She then tweeted, “The Duchess and I had a chat about the recent referendum result — she watched with interest and was pleased to see the result.”

The senator appeared to have realised that she gave away Meghan’s stance on abortion, and so she deleted the tweet. According to Irish Times, she followed it up with another tweet that she also deleted: “I should say she seemed pleased — she was interested and very measured, not political at all.”

Noone then posted a more innocuous message and a photo of the couple with herself and a few other people. “A pleasure to meet Prince Harry & the Duchess of Sussex at the British Ambassador’s Residence this evening.”

While the British royals are careful, but not always successful, in keeping their thoughts private, Meghan wasn’t at fault when her feelings on the abortion issue were made public, according to royal biographer Robert Lacey. The fault, he told the Daily Beast, lay with the one who publicised her comments.

“These were private conversations and I think Meghan could have had every expectation that they would stay off the record. The mistake is on the part of those who have publicised her comments, and the fact that one of them deleted her tweets soon afterwards shows that,” Lacey, who is a historical consultant for the Netflix series “The Crown,” said.

“What Meghan said was in no way rabid or sensational and hardly surprising; she is a modern royal and we know that she has modern beliefs, but a subtle game has to be played to preserve her neutrality.”

Harry and Meghan were in Ireland on Tuesday and Wednesday at the request of Her Majesty’s Government.