She may no longer be a senior royal, but Meghan Markle knows the importance of never letting your crown slip. Indeed, despite facing a long list of humiliating setbacks in her professional endeavours over the past few years, she’s never dropped the façade that both she, and Prince Harry, are absolutely winning at life – especially in comparison to the allegedly miserable royal life they fled. And, according to insiders, Meghan’s defiance against her critics is only getting louder as she approaches the new year. Apparently, the Duchess of Sussex is telling everyone to prepare for a 2025 where she’ll finally deliver on all her business plans and dealings – and prove to anyone who’s doubted her that she was right all along.
'Meghan is dropping lots of hints that huge things are just around the corner, and that all of her and Harry’s critics will be laughing on the other side of their faces once it all drops,' says an insider close to the 43 year old, who has upped her solo appearances in LA without Harry over the past few months, and last week stepped out by herself to attend the launch of her friend Kadi Lee’s Highbrow Hippie haircare line in Los Angeles. 'She’s being very cryptic and secretive, but clearly there are some deals that have been inked and all that schmoozing appears to be paying off. Money is a huge motivating factor for Meghan especially, but – make no mistake – she’s also very determined to prove people wrong.'
It’s no surprise that both Harry and Meghan are, apparently, upset by the narrative that’s been pedalled against them since they stepped down as senior royals in 2020 and moved to the US. Despite initially being praised for their decision and winning further sympathy and praise for their candour when it came to talking about their struggles at the hands of the monarchy, they soon started to rub the general public the wrong way with their so-called 'whining' and 'navel-gazing'.
By the time Harry released his book, Spare, in early 2023, the general feeling was that the couple were dining out on their royal connections, while simultaneously attacking the institution ad nauseam.
It didn’t help that, having signed multimillion dollar deals with massive corporations like Netflix and Spotify, they didn’t deliver the goods. Meghan’s Archetypes podcast was quickly slammed for falling short – prompting Spotify to drop them from their $20m deal, with one executive calling them 'f**king grifters'. Meanwhile, despite drawing in huge numbers with their Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan, they’ve produced little more as part of their $100m deal, save for Harry’s documentary about the Invictus Games which arrived without much fanfare. They ended 2023 being labelled two of the year’s 'biggest losers' by The Hollywood Reporter – and, despite starting 2024 with renewed vigour, the beginning of the year didn’t do much to improve matters.
In March, Meghan sparked worldwide excitement when she teased the launch of her lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, with a stylish video, which saw her floating around her mansion in a ballgown, arranging flowers and whimsically cooking. But – save for a short supply of luxury homemade jams that she sent to her most high-profile friends – we’ve seen little more trace of the highly-anticipated brand. Meghan herself hasn’t commented on the delay to proceedings, but – according to sources – she’s been held up by several factors.
Firstly, having apparently been planning to sell textiles, edible products, gardening supplies, tableware, cosmetics and pet supplies, the duchess was reportedly blindsided by a number of 'irregularities' in her application to trademark her business, which needed to be 'corrected' before she could officially launch and sell things. Then, once those were sorted, she was faced with another delay, as Netflix – which is apparently handling all commercial dealings for her brand and tying in the launch with a lifestyle and cookery show – failed to launch things this side of the year. As frustrating as it was, Meghan was apparently forced to bite her tongue and wait – while gritting her teeth through whispers and gossip that her lifestyle brand had 'flopped'.
But now, we’re told, she has renewed confidence that she’ll soon be able to deliver on all her promises – and silence her critics along the way. With Netflix reportedly planning to hard launch American Riviera Orchard with its accompanying cookery show in 2025, plus a supposedly planned memoir in the works, next year is shaping up to be a time when actions will speak louder than words.
'Meghan has been throwing herself into the schmoozing side of things,' we’re told. 'She’s teasing some big projects in the entertainment world as well as speaking gigs and rolling out her lifestyle brand, of course. The word is that she’s got investors and backers who really believe in her, so she and Harry can move into 2025 with their heads held high. The word is that it’s not just about talking the talk but walking the walk because everything’s finally coming together – and needless to say Meghan cannot wait for everything to come to fruition.'
One driving force in her ambitions, our source explains, is Meghan’s determination to prove that she – and Harry – are better off without the royals. It’s no secret that Harry, for his part, has quietened his complaints against his estranged family over the past year, prompting speculation that he’s quietly trying to make amends, especially following the King and the Princess of Wales’ respective cancer battles. But Meghan has remained steadfast in her aversions to returning to the royal fold – or even returning to the UK. She last made a fleeting visit here in 2022, to attend the late Queen’s funeral, and – as heat has told you – has been offended by the palace’s apparent displays of apathy towards her (recently wishing Harry a happy birthday alongside a picture without his wife in the frame). As far as she’s concerned, she has no need to ever return to the UK again – or indeed to bring her and Harry’s children, Archie, five, and Lilibet, three, back to spend time with their paternal relatives. But she’ll have far more leverage if she can show off all her successes on US soil.
'Harry and Meghan would love nothing more than to ram the criticism down the throats of the many people who have torn them to pieces and essentially branded them self-obsessed social climbers,' says our insider, 'And the best way of doing that, in Meghan’s view, is to make a success of their lives and let their achievements, as well as their bank account, do the talking. That, as well as staying together and proving that their love story has what it takes to survive all the many attacks and attempts to divide them. She is the queen of holding grudges, and Harry’s not far behind in that regard, either.'