Can Prince Harry, Meghan Markle's Kids Run For US Presidency? Here's What We Know

A rumor circulating on social media claims that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s children can run for U.S. president.

A recent post on the Facebook page “Formidable Republican Opposition” that claims the children of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are eligible to lead the U.S. has sparked a debate among social media users.

“So. Harry & Megan’s children are eligible to be POTUS,” the post read. “Way to play the long game, George III.”

Under the Constitution, anyone who wants to run for president must be a natural-born citizen, be at least 35 years old, and a U.S. resident for at least 14 years.

The Constitution has yet to define “natural-born citizen.” But according to Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute, a natural-born citizen refers to an individual who was a U.S. citizen at the time of birth.

Under current law, people born outside the country to at least one U.S. citizen parent are made U.S. citizens at birth.

“Congress has made equally clear from the time of the framing of the Constitution to the current day that, subject to certain residency requirements on the parents, someone born to a U.S. citizen parent generally becomes a U.S. citizen without regard to whether the birth takes place in Canada, the Canal Zone, or the continental United States,” an analysis in the Harvard Law Review read.

Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, Harry and Meghan’s first child, was born in the United Kingdom. However, Meghan is American, which means the boy was granted U.S. citizenship when he was born. Meghan and Harry's second child will also be granted U.S. citizenship.

The news that she is pregnant was announced a few months following an op-ed she wrote for The New York Times in which she revealed that she had a miscarriage in the summer of 2020.

The U.S. has had several presidential candidates who were born in other nations -- Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texa, was born in Canada to an American mother and The late Sen. John McCain was born on an American military base in Panama to American parents.

However, a clause in the Constitution argues that a person holding any office cannot receive gifts or anything of value from foreign states and rulers. This means Harry and Meghan’s children would have to renounce their claim to the British throne to run for president.