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The United States President and the Sussexes have famously had a fraught history

President Donald Trump has said he is “happy” that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have left the US for the UK, declaring he is “not a fan”.

The US President was speaking during a meeting with travel executives in the Oval Office at the White House on Wednesday evening.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle landed at Birmingham Airport last week, following six years living in California, and are thought to have settled in the Cotswolds.

When asked about the Sussexes deciding to return to the UK, the President of the United States said: “I'm happy about it.

“I was not a fan. I had a very good relationship with the Queen. Really good - I got to know her very well.

“[I have] a really good relationship with King Charles. I know him as Prince Charles; I've known him for a long time.

“He's a great guy, and I thought they [Meghan and Harry] treated the Royal Family with great disrespect. I didn't like the way she acted.

“I thought she was terribly disrespectful to the Queen, to King Charles. Maybe I'm different; I would not have taken them back.

“If I were the Royal Family, I would not have taken them back.”

The President of the United States and the Sussexes have famously had a fraught history since 2019.

While calling into Nigel Farage's LBC radio show that year, Mr Trump was asked about Meghan, who had previously criticised him during the 2016 US election campaign.

The Leader of the Free World said Meghan was taking criticism from the British press “very personally”, while also praising other members of the Royal Family.

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After Harry and Meghan moved to Canada and announced their intention to step back as senior royals, they subsequently relocated to California.

Mr Trump then made his position on their security arrangements clear.

He posted on X (then Twitter) that the US would not pay for their security, saying they would have to pay themselves.

Then, ahead of the 2020 presidential election, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex appeared in a video encouraging Americans to vote.

They did not explicitly endorse Joe Biden, but their comments about rejecting “hate speech” and the importance of voting were widely interpreted as an intervention in the election.

Mr Trump responded by saying he was “not a fan” of Meghan, while adding that he was a “fan” of Harry.

In 2025, during President Trump's second term, he was asked about Harry's immigration situation.

Rather than threatening deportation, Mr Trump said: “I'll leave him alone.”

He then delivered another swipe at Meghan, saying Harry had “enough problems with his wife.”