Meghan Markle has personally urged U.S. politicians to pass a paid vacation bill for U.S. workers. These activities have sparked speculation in the specialized British and American press that Markle has ambitions for a career as a politician or activist.

 

For weeks, Congress has been debating a bill from President Biden — worth $1.75 trillion — that would give workers significantly more rights. However, the Republican opposition wants large parts of that proposal to be scrapped. Now it appears that Meghan Markle, the American wife of the British Prince Harry, has personally telephoned and written to Republican Congressmen to approve the right to family vacation after all.

For example, Markle, a mother of two young children, would have called Senator Shelley Moore Capito from West Virginia. “I was in my car when I got a call,” Capito told Politico. “But the number was blocked, so I thought it was Senator Manchin (from the same state, ed.). And then the voice said, ‘Senator Capito? This is Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.”

Markle also phoned Senator Susan Collins of Maine to plead with her for the proposal as well. “To my surprise, she called me on my private line, introducing herself as ‘the Duchess of Sussex’. I thought that was ironic,” Collins said. “I was happy to talk to her, but I’m more interested in what the people of Maine think.” Markle lives in California these days.

Markle wrote a letter to Congress last month advocating paid vacation. In it, she speaks extensively about the difficult circumstances in which she grew up. These activities have sparked speculation in the specialized British and American press that Markle has ambitions for a career as a politician or activist.