Meghan Thee Lobbyist? The Duchess of Sussex Was Called Out for Cold-Calling Senators—but We're Kinda Here for It

Should the British royal family be involved in American politics? Presumably, no—in fact, they’re not supposed to be overtly political at all. But when an American woman marries into the monarchy, subsequently steps down as working royal, decamps with her family to her home state, and stops living off the royal dime? All bets are also presumably off.

As recently reported by The Root, Meghan Markle eschewed royal protocol last month, writing an open letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to advocate for paid family leave, urging them to put “families above politics.” But it appears the duchess wasn’t done there; Politico reports Markle also called “senators in both parties about the topic,” having been provided their personal numbers by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).

“I’m in my car. I’m driving. It says caller ID blocked,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) recounted to the outlet. “Honestly…I thought it was Sen. Manchin. His calls come in blocked. And she goes ‘Sen. Capito?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ She said, ‘This is Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.’”

“I couldn’t figure out how she got my number,” Capito added. Infamous flip-flopper (but not really) Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was also among the lucky recipients of a royal lobby, as recounted by Politico reporter Marianne Levine on Twitter.

I mean…is it really ironic, though? Meghan’s an American citizen (who has relinquished any claim to British citizenship) and, while she admits she may not personally be in need of paid family leave, she is a working mom with a huge platform, so…why not?

“She wants to be part of a working group to work on paid leave long term and she’s going to be,” Sen. Gillibrand explained to Politico. “Whether this comes to fruition now or later, she’ll be part of a group of women that hopefully will work on paid leave together.”

Granted, the Dems—as flaccid as they may seem these days—have already circumvented opposition posed by Manchin (D-W.Va.), announcing Wednesday that after being scrapped, four weeks of paid family and medical leave have, in fact, been added back into the social spending bill, as reported by CNN. Democrats are pushing for a vote on Thursday, but until it’s passed, Gillibrand plans to continue to leverage her royal advocate—and since politicians should be compelled to answer to the people, we’re here for it. As for the use of her royal title, well…pretentious, but potentially effective. (Though everyone knows who Meghan Markle is, so there’s that.)

“I talked to each of the women senators and let them know that she’s going to reach out, because she only completed two of the calls,” Gillibrand told Politico. “She’s going to call some others, so I let them know in advance.”