Trump says he would 'love to debate' Meghan Markle: 'I didn't like the way she dealt with the Queen'

• In an hour-long interview with Hugh Hewitt, Trump said he'd "love to debate" Meghan Markle.
• The embattled former president said he "didn't like the way she dealt with the Queen."
• Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, stepped back from royal life in 2020.

Former President Donald Trump said he'd "love to debate" the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, if given the opportunity.

Appearing on "The Hugh Hewitt Show" on Wednesday, Trump spoke at length about the indictments levied against him by grand juries across the country, President Joe Biden, and the first Republican presidential debate.

At the beginning of the episode, host Hugh Hewitt mentioned it's nearly the 50th anniversary of the second "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match when female star Billie Jean King bested Bobby Riggs in September 1973. Noting that the match brought in an estimated 90 million worldwide viewers, Hewitt said the only thing he could think of that could draw a similar audience would be a debate between Trump, Meghan Markle, and Prince Harry.

"I didn't like the way she dealt with the Queen," Trump said of Meghan. "I became very friendly with the Queen. She was an incredible woman at 95. She was so sharp. She was a hundred percent. When you watch Biden, you say, this is a different planet. But they treated her with great disrespect and I didn't like it."

He added, "I'd love to debate her. I'd love it."

Trump has taken various swipes at Harry and Meghan over the years

In 2019, Trump called Meghan "nasty" in an interview with British tabloid The Sun when he learned she had threatened to move to Canada in 2016 if he won the election.

When asked by Piers Morgan to clarify his comments about the duchess being "nasty," Trump said, "I wasn't referring to her as 'she's nasty' — I said she was nasty about me." He went on to say, "It's OK for her to be nasty to me — it's not good for me to be nasty to her."

In January 2020, Harry and Meghan stepped back from their roles as senior royals and moved to the United States, leading to a strained relationship between the Sussexes and the rest of the royal family. Trump called Harry and Meghan's decision "sad" and said he "doesn't think this should be happening" to the Queen.

Meghan never publicly spoke out against Queen Elizabeth herself, but she did say that members of the royal family disregarded her mental health and made racist remarks about her child. After her claims, which she made in 2021, Buckingham Palace said, "The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning."

Meghan also said that King Charles III cut the couple's finances off after they stepped away from their official duties.

In September 2020, Meghan encouraged Americans to vote in her first joint television appearance with Harry since moving to the US, calling it "the most important election of our lifetime." When asked about the duchess' comments during a White House press briefing, Trump said, "I'm not a fan of hers. And I would say this — and she probably has heard that — but I wish a lot of luck to Harry, because he's going to need it."

Trump echoed his comments in a 2021 GB News interview with Nigel Farage, accusing Meghan of using Harry and saying he wasn't a fan of hers "from day one."

While Trump noted in his interview with Hewitt that he "didn't like the idea that they were getting US security when they came over here," a spokesperson for the couple said in 2020 that they never requested protection from the US government.

Outside of debating Meghan, Trump said he "certainly will" debate the Democratic presidential nominee in 2024, despite missing out on the first Republican presidential debate in August.

According to an average of national polls deemed "major" by FiveThirtyEight, Trump currently has a 38 percentage point advantage over the Republican candidate in second place, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.