GOP lawmaker calls for Meghan, Harry to lose royal titles over paid leave push

A GOP congressman is blasting Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex’s advocacy for paid family leave, suggesting she and Prince Harry should be stripped of their royal titles for her “interference in U.S. politics.”

Rep. Jason Smith (Mo.) slammed the American-born former “Suits” actor in a statement provided to ITK on Friday, saying her “latest interference in U.S. politics reignites the question in my mind as to why the Royal Family does not simply strip her and Harry officially of their titles, particularly since she insists on sending this under the pretense of being the Duchess of Sussex.”

In an open letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) posted earlier this week, Meghan made a push for paid leave, writing that she was speaking out as “an engaged citizen and a parent.”

Recalling her childhood in California in which she said eating out at the “$4.99 salad bar at Sizzler” was a luxury that her parents “worked to afford,” Meghan wrote, “No family should have to choose between earning a living and having the freedom to take care of their child (or a loved one, or themselves, as we would see with a comprehensive paid leave plan).”

In his statement, Smith knocked Meghan for her restaurant reference and support of paid leave: “While her attempts at appealing to working class families by recalling her days of eating at Sizzler were laughable, her comments make crystal clear that the passage of this massive tax-and-spend bill is aimed more at helping global elites get huge tax breaks than helping the working families she claims to have dined with.”

It’s not the first time that Smith has criticized Meghan and Harry. The lawmaker sent a letter to British Ambassador to the U.S. Karen Pierce last year accusing the pair of “using foreign titles to campaign against President Trump and interfere with our election.”

While members of the British royal family are expected to maintain political neutrality, Meghan and Harry stepped away from their official duties as full-time working members and moved to Los Angeles last year.

Asked Friday by ITK whether Smith was taking any other steps regarding Meghan’s paid leave push, a spokesman said that the congressman is “reviewing all options.”