The fairy tale story of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s engagement has been given a further exciting twist.
A recent tweet by Greg Pollowitz Twitchy.com editor, highlighted the possibility that a child of Markle and Prince Harry could well be eligible to be in line for the throne and at the same time also be eligible for the post of U.S. President.
This is because Markle’s provenance as an American citizen will result in her children with Prince Harry to be British with dual nationality.
This may seem unremarkable at first glance, but a closer look will reveal far-reaching possibilities as pointed out by Pollowitz.
His post on Twitter called it “long-ball” by Brits, adding that it was “a smart move.”
The tweet soon became hugely viral with over 470,000 ‘likes’ and nearly 134,000 re-tweets.
Natural Born Citizen Only Eligible For U.S. President
Pollowitz’s claim was however questioned by many using contrary points of law.
Some pointed out that the U.S. Constitution, has a clause that lays down that only “a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States” is eligible to occupy the Office of President.
Another pointed out that the child will not be US citizen since Markle would be giving birth in the UK and she would also be renouncing her US citizenship before the birth.
Yet another said such an eventuality was possible only in case of “a major tragedy to the royal family” as well as “an amendment to the US Constitution.”
Harvard Law Review Backs The Possibility
However the Harvard Law Review has indicated that there indeed was some truth to Pollowitz’s claim.
The well-respected legal journal stated that all sources used to interpret the US Constitution have said that the phrase ‘natural born Citizen’ carries a specific meaning. It refers to a person who is a U.S. citizen at birth without a need to go through the naturalization process.
The Supreme Court has recognised British common law as well as various enactments passed by the First Congress as useful sources.
According to both these sources, the original interpretation of the phrase ‘natural born Citizen’ includes people “born abroad who are citizens from birth” on basis of “the citizenship of a parent.”
