Since stepping down from her senior royal duties alongside Prince Harry earlier this year, Meghan Markle has been very vocal about encouraging people to vote in the US presidential election. True to her words, the Duchess of Sussex has made history by being the first modern royal to cast their vote in a governmental election.
In the history-making event, Markle is the first-ever royal to take part in a US presidential election, Newsweek, and People report. However, it is not known whether Markle voted locally on November 3 in the 2020 presidential election, or opted to vote early via an in-mail ballot.
While it is unusual for members of the royal family to participate in governmental elections, typically remaining politically neutral, Markle has seemingly broken that tradition, perhaps due to the fact that she and her husband, Prince Harry stepped down from their royal roles as senior members of the British royal family in March and relocated to Santa Barbara, California.
The former actor-turned-philanthropist had previously hinted at her plans to vote in this year’s US election which she called “the most important election of our lifetime.” “I know what it’s like to have a voice, and also what it’s like to feel voiceless. I also know that so many men and women have put their lives on the line for us to be heard,” Markle told Marie Claire in August. “And that opportunity, that fundamental right, is in our ability to exercise our right to vote and to make all of our voices heard,” she added.
Similarly, in their first TV appearance since stepping down from their royal duties, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were featured as part of the broadcast special unveiling of the ‘Time 100, 2020’, which is Time‘s list of the world’s 100 most influential people, where Markle stressed the importance of this year’s election. “We’re just six weeks out from Election Day, and today is National Voter Registration Day. Every four years, we are told the same thing, that ‘This is the most important election of our lifetime.’ But this one is,” Markle said. “When we vote, our values are put into action and our voices are heard. Your voice is a reminder that you matter. Because you do. And you deserve to be heard.”
Vogue