As the USA gears up for its Presidential elections, the former British Royals residing in the States -- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle -- have been advised by an ex-Republican Congressman, Charlie Dent not to choose sides in the "polarised" White House race.
Dent, who served in the House of Representatives from 2005 to 2018, also claimed that celebrity endorsements carry less weight on the November polls than people believe.
Harry and Meghan were notably absent from the A-list gathering at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week despite their history of vocal opinions on US politics. Dent has suggested that the Sussexes should proceed with caution.
Talking to GB News, Dent said she doesn't think most Americans sit up at night worrying what Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have to say about American politics, or British politics for that matter.
“I know over in the UK that the royals are meant to stay out of politics. They do that sometimes successfully, I guess, sometimes not. Queen Elizabeth was pretty careful, but Charles dabbled in it a bit more than some would like,” he said.
Dent further added that, regarding Meghan and Harry, "I don’t think there are many Americans who are particularly concerned about their political opinions."
"Politicians in the United States believe endorsements matter," Dent said adding that he thinks they don’t matter that much, they really don’t.
"In fact, in some cases, they have the opposite effect, they drive people away and maybe even hurt the branding of the person doing the endorsing.”
“In a polarised country, it’s not always the smartest thing in the world to take sides if you’re trying to advance yourself on some cause when half the country thinks it’s unpopular or vehemently disagrees with it,” the 64-year-old added.
“My advice to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle [would be] I’d be somewhat circumspect,” Dent said.
“I was just over in the UK a couple of weeks ago, it doesn’t sound like they’re particularly popular over there and I don’t know if they want to do things that would make them unpopular over here.”
