Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s salubrious neighbourhood was visited by one of America’s famous ‘Trump Trains’ over the weekend, sparking outrage amongst local liberals, MailOnline can reveal today.
The cortege of cars, all decorated with Trump banners and flags to celebrate the election win, processed through Montecito where several people stood on street corners to give drivers the middle finger.
One proud parent said on social media: ‘Our daughter and her friend participated in the Trump Train in Montecito, Cal today. Naturally, the liberals were in rare form’ – a nod to the swearing locals.
Images from the procession showed the scale of the so-called ‘Trump Train’ as it went through Montecito. Some vehicles had flags in the back, others had painted the sides with the Stars and Stripes. Drivers wore MAGA caps.
It came as Harry popped up in Vancouver to promote his Invictus Games. The Duke of Sussex was on the pitch at the Grey Cup in the city last night.
The suburb of Beverly Hills where he lives with his family is also home to their friend Oprah Winfrey, one of Kamala Harris’ most famous supporters who helped host the Democratic nominee’s final pre-election rally also attended by Beyonce.
Meghan and Harry live with Archie and Lilibet in their $14million Montecito mansion – home since they emigrated after quitting as working royals. Their near-neighbours include Ms Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ariana Grande, Rob Lowe, Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, Drew Barrymore, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson.
Miss Grande and Ms Perry were also among Kamala’s most famous supporters.
The Sussexes had again urged people to vote in the US Presidential Election. They did not endorse a candidate but their intervention was taken as a nod to Kamala by critics.
Some suggested that the decision not to come out for Kamala may have been related to the row over Harry’s visa application.
Montecito natives give the Trump Train the finger as a procession passes through the rich area where Meghan, Harry, Oprah and others live
Trump supporters drove in convoy through the area on Saturday to celebrate the election win
The couple’s video statement from the 2020 election which they filmed from the garden of their Montecito mansion and urged Americans to vote in the ‘most important election of our lifetime’. They denied they were not politically neutral, others disagreed
Trump said that he was ‘no fan’ of the Duchess of Sussex in the past. He has also hinted he would look at Harry’s immigration status
MailOnline revealed yesterday that Harry may have lost the ‘upper hand’ in his battle to keep his immigration documents secret after Donald Trump’s thumping election victory and now faces a ‘fight’ to remain in the US, according to legal experts.
In September the Chairman of the Republican movement in the UK has said that the Sussexes’ just ‘can’t help themselves’ when America is in an election year, dismissing their claim they are politically neutral.
The couple urged Americans to go to the polls – and while they didn’t back a candidate it was viewed by those on the right as a nod for Kamala.
Greg Swenson, a London-based financier and Chairman of Republicans Overseas UK, told MailOnline: ‘They can’t help themselves. By encouraging people to vote they are essentially ballot harvesting for Kamala.
‘You don’t have to say it. Like the man sitting in his car, alone, with a Covid mask on: you don’t need a bumper sticker, we know who you voted for’.
In 2020 the couple did not endorse a candidate but urged Americans to vote in the ‘most important election of our lifetime’. Meghan even cold-called Americans urging them to vote.
This was interpreted by many as backing Joe Biden, including by Mr Trump, who said he was ‘no fan’ of the former Suits star and Harry luck ‘because he’s going to need it’.
But it was revealed that with just two months until America goes to the polls, the couple’s Archewell Foundation has been sending out personalised letters to unregistered voters and insisting that ‘every voice matters’, but insist they are politically neutral and they have not mentioned any candidates.
Trump beat Kamala Harris, pictured with Oprah, at the US presidential election
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stayed publicly neutral in the US presidential election – pictured here during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games
Investigative journalist and biographer of the couple, Tom Bower, told MailOnline it was another attempt to get ‘noticed’ – and a sign that Meghan’s political ambitions are not dead.
Ms Markle is said to have approached California Governor Gavin Newsom about whether he would support her replacing Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein.
Mr Bower said: ‘Ambitious to be famous and influential, Meghan Markle yearns to belong to the American political establishment, especially the Democrat party.
‘Soon after returning to California in 2020, she approached California’s governor seeking an opportunity to secure nomination to a political post, not least as a candidate for Congress.
‘However, her endorsement of Biden against Trump in 2020 ended in disaster. Harry’s silly contribution to urge Americans to vote was ridiculed because he was a foreigner who was ignorant about American politics’.
The couple marked National Voter Registration Day by getting the Archewell team to take part in a letter-writing activity.
Staff sent out letters to unregistered voters to encourage them to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
The statement read: ‘Voting is not just a right; it’s a fundamental way to influence the fate of our communities.
‘At The Archewell Foundation, we recognize that civic engagement, no matter one’s political party, is at the heart of a more just and equitable world.
‘By participating in initiatives like this, we aim to amplify the message that every voice matters.’
Royal experts even suggested the Sussexes should think of a ‘backup plan’ for where they might live should Mr Trump choose to force Harry out – with one option being a holiday home they bought in Portugal, as revealed by the Daily Mail last month.
Back in September 2020, soon after Harry and his wife Meghan Markle had moved to the US, the couple urged American voters to ‘reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity’ in that year’s election which was eventually won by Joe Biden.
While the Sussexes did not endorse a candidate, the wording of their video message prompted accusations that they were referring to Mr Trump and had therefore breached UK protocol keeping members of the Royal Family political neutral.
Mr Trump was then asked during a White House briefing for his reaction to their comments, and said: ‘I’m not a fan of hers (Meghan) and I would say this, and she probably has heard that. But I wish a lot of luck to Harry, cause he’s going to need it.’
In more recent months, Mr Trump has spoken about the Heritage Foundation’s long-running case to get Harry’s secret visa application made public.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle outside St Paul’s Cathedral in London on June 3, 2022
Donald Trump and Queen Elizabeth II at a state banquet at Buckingham Palace in June 2019
The think tank has questioned why the Duke was allowed into the US with Meghan in 2020 following his reference to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms in his book Spare which came out in January 2023.
The conservative Washington DC group brought a lawsuit against the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) after a Freedom of Information request was rejected.
Heritage claimed Harry’s document was of ‘immense public interest’ but lost the case on September 23 after judge Carl Nichols ruled it should remain private.
Then, on October 22, Heritage submitted a new court filing as it tries to reopen the case because it was not allowed to see private submissions to the judge by the Biden administration.
Before a ruling was made in the case, Mr Trump said in February that Harry would be ‘on his own’ if he won the November election and claimed the Duke had ‘betrayed the Queen’.
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, he also said the Biden administration had been ‘too gracious’ to Harry since he moved to the US.
Mr Trump told the Daily Express: ‘I wouldn’t protect him. He betrayed the Queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me.’
Then in March, Nigel Farage asked Mr Trump on GB News whether Harry should receive any ‘special privileges’ if authorities determined that he lied on his visa application.
Donald Trump, Queen Elizabeth II, Melania Trump, Charles and Camilla at the banquet in 2019
Mr Trump responded: ‘No. We’ll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied they’ll have to take appropriate action.’
Asked whether ‘appropriate action’ meant the Duke ‘not staying in America,’ Mr Trump said: ‘Oh I don’t know. You’ll have to tell me. You just have to tell me. You would have thought they would have known this a long time ago.’
The Heritage case was brought because visa applicants must by law declare whether they have taken drugs.
Failure to do so can lead to deportation, and Heritage wanted the US Government to release the records to see what Harry said about drug usage.
However, Mr Trump’s son Eric Trump suggested last week in an interview with MailOnline that Harry’s US visa is safe because ‘no one cares’ about the Duke or his ‘unpopular’ wife Meghan.
Eric told MailOnline that Mr Trump ‘loved the Queen’ and lamented how Harry had done a ‘huge detriment’ to the royal family after leaving the UK.
But he added: ‘I don’t give a damn if he did drugs. It means nothing. I can tell you that our father and our entire family has tremendous respect for the monarchy.’
Queen Elizabeth II walks with Donald Trump at Buckingham Palace for the banquet in 2019
Eric also said: ‘Truthfully I don’t give a damn about Prince Harry and I don’t think this country does either. My father loved the Queen and I think the monarchy is an incredibly beautiful thing.’
He also paid tribute to Elizabeth II for how she hosted the Trump family at Buckingham Palace in June 2019, saying: ‘The late Queen was amazing. The way she welcomed my father with open arms was, like, beyond.’
Eric told how his father is also fond of King Charles III and that the monarch had previously visited Mar-a-Lago, the Trump estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
He also praised Prince William and Kate, stating that the future king had never ‘made a misstep’ while his wife ‘conducts herself so incredibly well and has been such a rock in the next generation of the family’.
But Eric said Harry let his family down when he stepped down as a senior royal and moved to the US, adding: ‘You look at this one black sheep who doesn’t exactly know where he is, led by a wife that is pretty unpopular, both here and over where you are.’
He added that Harry appeared to ‘have gone off the deep end and it’s sad to watch.’
Last month, royal expert Hugo Vickers said the Sussexes’ property in Alentejo, Portugal, would be a good ‘backup plan’ for the couple if Mr Trump decides to kick Harry out of the US.
Mr Vickers told The Sun: ‘I think it’s very wise to take all the possibilities into account. Looking at it from the outside, it makes perfect sense that they should have a backup plan.
US Judge Carl Nichols made a ruling on September 23 against the Heritage Foundation
‘But Meghan is very US-based and [Harry being kicked out] would be a problem for them. Because she presumably wouldn’t be necessarily booted out. She would at least keep a base in America, because that’s where she operates more.’
In February, Harry raised the prospect of US citizenship when speaking with ABC’s Good Morning America – saying he had considered the idea but it was ‘not a high priority.
