The photo that reveals the sad truth about the Sussexes. Photo / Getty Images
This time last year, Harry and Meghan were making headlines.
In the last days of July 2018, they had stepped out and caused a serious ruction.
The reason: The Sussexes had an almighty snog in public while dozens of press cameras whirred. Meanwhile, world champion polo player Nacho Figueras awkwardly stood there holding a trophy while the newlyweds locked lips.
It was tender, funny, and let's be honest, sexy.
My, how much can change in a year.
No matter your opinion of her approach to royal life, which has been heavy on hashtags and hugs and lighter on actual official outings, the last 12 months have been a lacerating experience for Meghan.
From a triumphant kick-off in $300,000 worth of Givenchy to being dubbed "Me-Gain" and "Duchess Difficult," her tenure as a member of the royal family has brought with it the sort of interminable controversy and tabloid coverage the house of Windsor has not experienced since the 90s.
This week, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has been caught up in a media storm over the newly released September issue of Vogue which she has guest-edited.
There have been media clashes over everything from her choice to not appear on the cover (reportedly because she thought it would be "boastful"), to her decision to not include the Queen in her selection of game-changing women, to whether negative coverage of all of this was driven by racism. (Reader, it has been an exhausting week just keeping track of all this.)
Let's consider some of the bigger eruptions in controversy over the last 12 months.
There was the alleged feud between Kate, Duchess of Cambridge and Meghan, with stories claiming that relations between the two women were positively Bold and the Beautiful-esque.
Her father Thomas Markle proceeded to use tabloid channels to lobby his daughter to reconnect with him, while she stayed schtum. (Until, allegedly, she gave five friends tacit approval to speak to People in her defence.)
There was the $4.3 million in taxpayer funds that Harry and Meghan accepted to renovate Frogmore Cottage, millions of dollars of which could have been saved if they had opted to stay put in Kensington Palace.
But wait! We haven't even gotten to the $600,000-odd baby shower in New York, replete with private jets, A-listers and a celebrity harpist. (Marie Antoinette would have approved. There was probably enough cake.)
More recently, the Sussexes' choice to obstinately refuse to share certain details about their life (such as the name of their dog, announcing when Meghan went into labour or son Archie's birth certificate) have baffled and infuriated vast segments of the UK population and royal watchers worldwide.
We can't forget Meghan's July Wimbledon outing, which saw her protection officers gallingly and perplexingly ask fellow spectators to not take photos of the Duchess while she and two friends sat in an island of curiously empty seats.
It has been fascinating to watch this all play out. To watch a smart, successful woman join an ancient institution and try and carve out her own path. To watch her attempt to establish her own identity rather than be subsumed by a hoary organisation hellbent on survival at all costs.
Whatever your position, make no mistake — all of this has all been compelling, obsessive, binge-worthy stuff.
According to Google Trends, over the last 12 months to now, Meghan has persistently been searched for at a dramatically higher rate than Kate. (Though to be fair, the first year after Kate's wedding, she scored higher than Meghan has in terms of search volume.)
Maybe you think Meghan is a provocative rule-breaker intent on using her platform in novel ways to help the world. Maybe you think she is an interloper with a paucity of understanding about the particular function and place of the royal family in British society (and the national psyche). No matter.
The unequivocal bottom line is that her arrival on the doorstep of Kensington Palace, yoga mat and Diptyque candles in hand, has generated nearly unprecedented interest in the royal family on a global level.
And that — interest, attention, fascination — is a particular commodity that the royal family desperately needs.
This Sunday, August 4, is Meghan's birthday. She will reportedly mark the day with a celebration with the Queen, Harry and Archie at Balmoral where Her Majesty is said to have given the couple an entire wing as a sign of her approval. (Nothing says "party like a walk around an icy loch and a slice of Victoria sponge.)
Writing on The Tig in 2016 (most likely only weeks after she met Harry) she said: "My mum has always said that birthdays are your own personal New Year — your own chance to make resolutions just for yourself and what you prognosticate for your year ahead."
So what should Meghan "prognosticate" for herself for the next 12 months? More likes, more followers, more impact, more $4000 Gucci frocks? (More full nights of sleep?)
Maybe.
But I prognosticate this: She's just getting started and we ain't seen nothing yet. The Sussex story is only going to become more complex, more riveting and more contentious.
The new free open-air saltwater pool is already proving popular.