WASHINGTON — Prince Harry and Meghan Markle reportedly explored opportunities to build a far more prominent profile in American political circles after stepping away from royal duties, including an alleged effort by the Duchess of Sussex to be considered for the California Senate seat eventually vacated by Kamala Harris.

According to a source, Meghan sought a meeting with California Gov. Gavin Newsom in the weeks leading up to the 2020 presidential election because she wanted to be considered for an appointment to Harris’ seat if the Democratic vice-presidential nominee entered the White House.

A Sussex source firmly denied that Meghan wanted the Senate appointment. Newsom’s representative did not respond to a request for comment.

The episode is one of several reported instances in which Harry and Meghan sought access to senior figures in American politics after relocating to California.

Meghan’s reported interest in Kamala Harris’ Senate seat

Ahead of Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump in November 2020, Harris was both California’s junior senator and Biden’s running mate.

A source claims Meghan requested a sitdown with Newsom because she “wanted to be considered to be appointed” to Harris’ Senate seat if it became vacant.

According to the source, the conversation was publicly characterized as a welcome-to-California discussion, potentially heading off questions about its purpose.

Exactly how far any such effort progressed remains unclear.

Records that emerged in February 2021 confirmed that Newsom held an “introductory meeting” with Harry and Meghan on Oct. 19, 2020. The governor’s office did not disclose what was discussed and described the meeting as social.

It is also unclear whether Meghan separately approached Newsom after the election.

Harris formally left the Senate shortly before becoming vice president on Jan. 20, 2021. Newsom ultimately selected California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill the vacancy two days before Harris was sworn in.

Padilla later won election to a full six-year Senate term in 2022.

Any appointment involving Meghan could also have raised significant constitutional questions because of her royal title.

Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the US Constitution restricts people holding federal offices of profit or trust from accepting titles, offices or benefits from foreign states without congressional consent.

A British royal serving as a US senator — even one who was no longer a working member of the Royal Family — would also have represented an extraordinary departure from the country’s republican political tradition.

Alexander Hamilton emphasized that tradition in “The Federalist Papers,” describing the prohibition of titles of nobility as a “corner-stone of republican government.”

Harry and Meghan reportedly sought a Biden meeting

The reported Senate interest was not the only occasion when the Sussexes were said to have pursued access to the highest levels of American politics.

In late 2021, multiple sources say Harry and Meghan requested a meeting with President Biden in the Oval Office and also sought accommodation at Blair House.

Located close to the White House, Blair House is traditionally used to host foreign leaders during official visits.

According to the sources, White House officials rejected both ideas.

One source said an Oval Office meeting involving Harry and Meghan could have created a “major diplomatic kerfuffle” involving both 10 Downing Street and the British Royal Family.

A former Biden aide offered another explanation.

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden were longtime admirers of Queen Elizabeth II, the source said, and “didn’t want to get into a family squabble” by formally hosting Harry and Meghan after their departure from royal duties.

A Sussex source denied Thursday that the couple requested either an Oval Office meeting or accommodation at Blair House.

At the time, such a meeting would have given Harry and Meghan considerable visibility as they attempted to establish their identities outside the institution they had left behind during their January 2020 departure from frontline royal life.

Former Obama officials became part of their Washington network

As they established themselves in the United States, Harry and Meghan hired several consultants with experience in Barack Obama’s White House.

Among them was Miranda Barbot, who later became Harry’s chief of staff.

According to sources, people with connections to the previous Democratic administration helped serve as bridges between the Sussexes and Biden’s White House.

Then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who previously served as Obama’s communications director, was among those contacts.

Psaki later described another connection involving Meghan and the Biden family in her 2024 memoir, “Say More.”

She recalled Meghan sending a box of lemons to Psaki’s Virginia home so Psaki could take them through White House security and deliver them to Jill Biden’s East Wing office.

The Air Force One request

Another reported approach involving the Biden administration came in September 2022, following the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Harry and Meghan reportedly asked whether they could return to the United States aboard Air Force One.

The request was rejected.

The episode added to reports that the Sussexes were seeking ways to establish relationships with influential figures in Washington while simultaneously building their new public lives in America.

Their intervention during the 2020 election

Harry and Meghan had already attracted political attention shortly after arriving in the United States.

In September 2020, they appeared in a video for Time magazine encouraging Americans to participate in the presidential election.

They urged voters to “reject hate speech,” a message that some observers interpreted as implicitly favoring Biden over Trump.

The intervention attracted criticism because members of the British Royal Family have traditionally remained outside partisan electoral politics.

Trump responded publicly when asked about Meghan.

“I wish a lot of luck to Harry, because he’s going to need it,” he said.

Despite the attention surrounding their comments, Harry and Meghan did not ultimately establish the kind of major political role that some observers believed they were pursuing.

The Bidens’ relationship with Harry changed after Megxit

Sources say there had nevertheless been personal sympathy for Harry within the Biden family, particularly because of the circumstances surrounding the death of his mother, Princess Diana.

Diana died in a car crash in 1997.

Joe Biden had experienced his own devastating family tragedy decades earlier. His first wife, Neilia, and their infant daughter, Naomi, were killed in a 1972 car accident that also injured their sons Beau and Hunter.

Jill Biden also had an established connection to Harry through the Invictus Games.

She regularly attended the international sporting event for wounded service members and veterans, which Harry founded in 2014, and was frequently seen alongside the prince at the Games.

That changed after she became first lady in January 2021.

Jill stopped attending the Invictus Games, according to sources, because of concerns about how her presence alongside Harry could be perceived following his departure from royal duties in Britain.

Taken together, the reported episodes show Harry and Meghan attempting to establish relationships within some of America’s most powerful political circles after leaving their senior royal roles.

But some of the most striking claims — including Meghan’s alleged interest in Harris’ Senate seat and the couple’s reported requests for an Oval Office meeting and Blair House accommodation — have been firmly denied by a Sussex source.