Queen Elizabeth, Meghan Markle's First Royal Trip In Cheshire Faces Protest

Queen Elizabeth II and Meghan Markle will have to face a protest on their visit to Cheshire next week.

The monarch has increased her workload and has invited the Duchess of Sussex to unveil a new bridge in Widnes, Cheshire and to open the Storyhouse Theatre. However, a local group confessed that they are preparing for a protest on that day.

The Scrap Mersey Tolls (SMT) group has set up a Facebook event encouraging others members to protest the new bridge's toll. They will kick-off the protest after 9 am, but this is subject to change depending on the royals' schedule.

"It is bizarre that the Queen, who last September officially opened the toll free new road bridge over the Forth, has been persuaded to open a tolled bridge," said John McGoldrick (via Daily Express). "Part of the tolls plan is to also put a toll on the Silver Jubilee Bridge. A bridge that was officially opened in 1961 by Princess Alexandra, the Queen's first cousin."

"It will be the first free bridge in the UK to have tolls added. Was the Queen aware of this? Was she also aware of the unpopularity of the tolls and the terrible penalties being issued at the rate of 800,000 a year?" he added. "Did she also not know of the current controversy because Halton Council have so far done nothing to refund the tolls and penalties which were recently judged to be illegal by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal?"

An anti-toll campaigner group already sent a letter to the Queen to reconsider their trip to Cheshire. According to the group, the bridge "should never have been tolled in the first place."

In related news, the upcoming trip with Queen Elizabeth II is an honor that Kate Middleton and Prince Harry haven't received from Her Majesty yet. The new duchess will be traveling with the Queen in her private train overnight.

The Duke of Sussex and the Duchess of Cambridge have never tried this yet. Only Prince Charles, Prince Philip, Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince William have got to experience it.

Queen Elizabeth II and Markle are set to visit Cheshire on June 14. It will be the first time that Markle will join Queen Elizabeth II on her own.