A famous former U.K. tabloid editor sparked a backlash after saying Meghan Markle should “come back to the UK and wave to us all.”

Kelvin MacKenzie was known for his confrontational style during his editorship of The Sun in the 1980s and 90s and has remained a media commentator and at points a columnist since.

And he got into a fiery exchange on GB News with historian Tessa Dunlop, author of royal biography Elizabeth & Philip, over whether Meghan should return to Britain with Prince Harry to celebrate 10 years of the Invictus Games next week.

Meghan will instead join Harry for a visit to Nigeria shortly after, where they will celebrate the country’s introduction into the Invictus Games. She also said in 2022 that she has discovered she is part Nigerian.

“Megan has announced that instead of coming to the UK perhaps to rally round the royal family in difficult times both with the King and his daughter-in-law and what does she do?” asked MacKenzie. “She nips over to Nigeria, basically giving in my view … after all she keeps the title doesn’t she? She keeps the title, all right, rather than coming back to the UK, she gives a ‘V’ sign to the people.”

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Dunlop said Nigeria would get a boost from “Meghan with her super stardust, which is why people like you are so peeved because she turned her back on Britain. I understand. We can sort out some counseling for you Kelvin. You will recover from this.”

MacKenzie replied: “I’m not peeved about Meghan, I’m peeved about her actions. Why doesn’t she come back to the UK and wave to us all?”

The clip was viewed more than 116k times after it was posted on X, formerly Twitter, with the message: “EMBARRASSING/SCARY OMG! 😳 Did that man just say that the British public is “Entitled” to #MeghanMarkle & that she must come back 2 Britain to give them a wave & a view? WTF!?😳”

Christopher Bouzy, founder of data firm Bot Sentinel and interviewee on Prince Harry and Meghan Netflix documentary, wrote: “I told you guys these nincompoops think Meghan belongs to them. He said the quiet part out loud.”

Dunlop and MacKenzie appeared as guests on a show hosted by Jacob Rees Mogg, a Conservative Party lawmaker, and began by discussing a tweet by MacKenzie.

It read: “King Charles has cancer but visits a cancer hospital…..Prince Edward’s wife Sophie visits Ukraine and condemns rapes by Russian troops…..While the Duchess of Sussex plans to visit Nigeria as she’s discovered she has some Nigerian blood. It’s always about Meghan.”

MacKenzie is one of the most famous tabloid editors in U.K. history, and is known, among many things, for an exchange he had with John Major when the Conservative Party politician was Prime Minister.

Major telephoned to ask how MacKenzie would be covering a particularly difficult day in his political career in 1992 and received the answer: “Well John, let me put it this way—I’ve got a large bucket of s*** lying on my desk and tomorrow morning I’m going to pour it all over your head.”

Jack Royston is Newsweek’s chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek’s The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.

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