President Donald Trump has said he is glad Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have left the United States, while adding that he would not have welcomed them back if he were part of the British royal family.

Trump (80) accused Meghan (45) of being “terribly disrespectful” to the late Queen Elizabeth II in his first public reaction since the couple moved back to Britain from California.

The high-profile pair is now settling into life in Harry’s homeland, six years after they stepped down as working royals and departed for the United States amid a bitter falling-out with his family.

“I’m happy about it. I was not a fan,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about Harry and Meghan’s departure.

“I thought they treated the royal family with great disrespect. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the way she acted. I thought she was terribly disrespectful to the Queen, to King Charles.”

Wouldn’t have taken them back

Harry (41) appears to have mended relations with his father, King Charles III, who is battling cancer, during recent visits to the United Kingdom.

He reportedly remains estranged from his brother Prince William, the heir to the throne, and William’s wife Catherine.

Trump said he would not have been so forgiving.

“Maybe I’m different. I wouldn’t have taken him back, right? If I were the royal family, I would not have taken them back,” he said.

The former reality television star has traded barbs with Meghan on several occasions.

On the eve of a state visit to Britain in 2019 during his first term, Trump denied calling Meghan “nasty”, despite the comment being clearly audible on tape in a tabloid interview.

She had been critical of Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, calling him “misogynistic” and “divisive”.

Trump again appeared stung when Meghan commented ahead of the 2020 election, which he lost, saying he was “not a fan” and adding: “I wish a lot of luck to Harry, because he’s going to need it.”

Return after six years away

The couple’s return to Britain with their children Prince Archie (7) and Princess Lilibet (5) marked the end of a long exile from Harry’s homeland.

They married in a lavish ceremony in 2018 but two years later gave up their role as working royals after a feud with the British royals and moved to North America.

The rift deepened when Harry published his tell-all memoir Spare and the couple gave a candid interview to US talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

Meghan, who is mixed-race, and Harry suggested to Winfrey that the monarchy was racist, claiming a family member raised a question about the skin colour of their son before he was born.

Meghan also said she had contemplated suicide after joining the royal family.

Uncertain future in Britain

While the couple signed commercial deals with US platforms like Netflix and Spotify, reports said their attempts to make a living in the United States had fallen flat.

Their return to Britain has raised questions about their future plans.

The Telegraph newspaper reported that the couple plan to stay for “an extended period”, living in a home in the Cotswolds region in central England, having enrolled their children at a school for the coming academic year.

With speculation rampant around their reasons for returning and whether the stay is permanent, reports have noted the couple intend to keep their existing homes in California and Portugal.

Meghan faces a particularly tough challenge in readjusting to life in Britain, where she remains unpopular. Polling shows a majority of people hold unfavourable views of her and, to a lesser extent, Harry.

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