LETTER: Harry and Meghan do a very American thing

Several years ago, my wife and I were visiting Jamaica, a former British sugar colony and now an independent nation and part of the British Commonwealth. The tour guide showed us a letter with a postage stamp of the Queen, and she proudly pointed out their connection to the British royalty. My wife, of Irish and American heritage, blurted out how we had gotten rid of them a long time ago. I laughed, as I have always thought we as Americans spend too much time slavishly following the gyrations of the British royalty when we fought a revolution to be free of the monarchy and to create a meritocracy on the premise that success should be based on hard work and character rather than on the mere accident of one’s birth.

I wish Harry and Meghan well as, frankly, freeing themselves of the strictures of the British monarchy is a very American thing to do.