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Posted: 2023-04-15 07:00:45

More pertinently, those who know the duchess have left little doubt that for her, returning to the UK for major events would be something of a backward step. Having been through the trauma of Megxit (the couple’s departure from their working royal roles), the British chapter of her life is behind her, and in front of her all pathways are in the US.

Prince Harry has been criticised for revealing details of how the royal family operates behind closed doors.

Prince Harry has been criticised for revealing details of how the royal family operates behind closed doors.Credit: AP

Friends are also swift to suggest that portrayals of Meghan as a publicity obsessive person who uses the royal family as a tool to raise her profile have been proved demonstrably wrong by her decision to stay away from one of the most-watched global television events of the year.

They would struggle to deny, however, that the couple delighted in keeping the hated British media guessing over their coronation plans for months, even though the decision was taken as long ago as January.

The real intrigue over the duchess’s silence is to be found in what she is planning next.

Talk of her writing a book as part of Harry’s multi-volume deal with Penguin Random House is wide of the mark, the London Telegraph has been told (to the immense relief of the royal household, no doubt), and instead Meghan has been plotting her next move in the worlds of television, podcasting and blogging.

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In the same way that Harry’s grandfather Prince Philip never quite got over having to abandon an upwardly mobile Royal Navy career when his wife Elizabeth became Queen, Meghan grieves for The Tig, the lifestyle blog she set up during her acting career, which she turned into “a really successful business”, in her own words.

Having quit royal life Meghan’s blogging ambitions are no longer constrained, and last month a patent application to revive the website was given preliminary approval by US authorities, meaning she will be free to reboot the blog at the start of June.

If the Duchess proceeds with the plan, Tig 2.0 will feature articles, interviews and photographs “in the fields of food, cooking, recipes, travel, fashion, style, lifestyle, the arts, culture, design, conscious living, and health and wellness”.

It would also provide “commentary on the field of personal relationships”, suggesting Meghan might see herself as an agony aunt to the rich and famous. Broken-down relationships in her own and her husband’s families have certainly given her plenty of relevant experience.

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While their broadcast endeavours come under their Archewell brand, The Tig is owned by Frim Fram, Meghan’s Delaware-based company run by her business manager Andrew Meyer in Los Angeles.

Plenty is going on at Archewell too. Despite the tens of millions Harry has been paid by his publisher and by Netflix, the couple needs to keep on earning huge amounts of money to fund their lifestyle, not least of which is their multimillion-pound annual security bill.

Having bathed in self-pity to fill six hours of airtime for their Harry & Meghan docuseries, the couple is moving away from reality TV to dip their toes in fiction.

Archewell is understood to be looking to hire writers to develop ideas for romantic comedies and other feel-good programs, which has led to staff changes within the organisation, including the coming departure of internal content head Ben Browning. News is awaited on whether Meghan will host a second series of her Spotify podcast, Archetypes. Rumours also persist that her long-term ambitions lie in politics.

As for the regrouping element of her recent low profile, both she and Harry have been somewhat stung by the backlash in the US to their behaviour over the past year.

The merciless satirical comedy South Park dedicated an entire episode to the “Worldwide Privacy Tour” carried out by the “Prince and Princess of Canada” who crisscross the planet plugging the prince’s memoir while demanding privacy.

Harry’s decision to row back from his wife’s allegations of royal racism – originally made in the couple’s infamous Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021 – by failing to repeat them in his book have also left Meghan exposed.

One lesson she does appear to have learnt from her limited time as a full-blown member of the royal family is that time is a great healer; when the public turns against you, avoid further trouble and wait for the memories to fade. That, surely, is part of the reason for her absence from the coronation.

The good news for her fans is that she will emerge from hibernation in just a month’s time.

On May 16 she will attend the Women of Vision Awards in New York, where she will be presented with an award by the journalist Gloria Steinem honouring her as a “feminist, champion of human rights and gender equity, and global role model”.

It also describes her as “one of the most powerful and influential women in the world”. Like US President Joe Biden, who is also skipping the coronation, she may feel that masters of the universe are entitled to find better things to do with their time.

The Telegraph, London

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