The Duchess of Sussex may have taken a step back from the spotlight, but behind the scenes she appears to once again be on manoeuvres. Photo / Getty Images
The Duchess of Sussex may have taken a step back from the spotlight, but behind the scenes she appears to once again be on manoeuvres. Photo / Getty Images
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For months now, mystery has surrounded what appears to be the Duchess of Sussex’s new Instagram page. Last summer, a new @Meghan handle appeared on the social media site, accompanied by a previously unseen childhood photograph of the mother of two.
It came as the 41-year-old dramatically declared in an interview with The Cut magazine last August: “I’m getting back … on Instagram.”
Writer Allison P Davis noted at the time how Meghan “delivered a nothing with such gravitas”. She later clarified that she was “no longer sure she would actually return to Instagram”.
Yet with no one other than a celebrity able to secure a handle on first-name terms, it was assumed that @Meghan would be the vehicle through which the social media-savvy duchess relaunched her online persona. After Meghan fans began flocking to follow the page, its profile picture was changed to a pink dahlia – the symbol adopted by members of Harry and Meghan’s “Sussex Squad” of online devotees. (The emoji is a nod to Meghan’s mother Doria still referring to her daughter by her childhood nickname, “flower”).
No posts and just 195 followers later, however, and the Duchess’s re-emergence on the social media scene appears to have stalled. But why?
The Duchess of Sussex may have taken a step back from the spotlight, but behind the scenes she appears to once again be on manoeuvres. Photo / Instagram
“What Meghan does next” is a question currently stumping royal watchers as the Sussexes recalibrate following the publication of Harry’s controversial autobiography, Spare.
Having been invisible during her husband’s publicity campaign, reports emerged of the duchess possibly having reservations about what her husband wrote in his excoriating memoir.
Despite once commenting that the couple move together “like salt and pepper”, Meghan was conspicuous by her absence at his side for his various media appearances, including on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in the US. By remaining below the radar, the duchess appeared to be sending a clear message: This is Harry’s project, not mine. Contrary to suggestions her fingerprints were all over the 410-page personal outpouring, in which Harry revealed rows with the royal family – among other intimate details – a source said: “Is this the way she would have approached things? Possibly not.
“But she will always back him and would never have got involved in promoting such a personal project.
“This was about his own life, his own journey and his own perspective.”
So what is the next stage of the duchess’s own journey? The appointment of a Hollywood venture capitalist who is famed for making millions of dollars for celebrities would appear to hold the clue.
Adam Lilling founded Plus Capital in 2012, which says it aims to partner “the world’s top influencers – those who can affect more change in a day than most can in a lifetime – with the best entrepreneurs and operators in the world”. The Sussexes have been working with Lilling for some time, having been introduced to him by mutual friend Ellen DeGeneres, a US television host, who is said to have worked with him “forever”.
The Sussexes and Lilling were spotted among the guests as DeGeneres renewed her wedding vows to Portia de Rossi in California last month.
It comes as Meghan has also been linked to Gordon Getty, following unconfirmed reports the pair were spotted having lunch together. The San Francisco billionaire is the scion of the late J Paul Getty, whose oil fortune made his family among the richest in US history.
Gordon Getty. Photo / Getty Images
So while she may have taken a step back from the spotlight, behind the scenes, Meghan appears to once again be on manoeuvres.
According to Tom Bower, author of Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors, both potentially lucrative alliances suggest the Duchess is “building up to something big”.
He told GB News: “The question is, how will she make a lot of money in a short period of time in the end to make sure that she doesn’t need always to parade herself as the victim of the royal family?
“She’s always looking for other business opportunities. What’s interesting is the people she goes to. Who is going to maximise Meghan’s popularity, who’s going to make her really big and very rich? She’s very shrewd and clever in that. She’s always looking for opportunities and for people who can help her.”
Describing Meghan as “seeing dollars everywhere”, he added: “She wants to ride in the big Cadillacs, the private jets on command, at the moment she needs to scrounge for those sorts of things. She’s on a treadmill which is fast, she wants to get there faster than tomorrow.
“The mystery is there, that’s the great thing. She’s making herself scarce while she puts the next huge exposé, the next theatre of opportunity together and then she’ll unveil herself.”
With such a busy schedule, it would appear unlikely that Meghan will attend the Coronation on May 6. Photo / Getty Images
But as what, exactly? Returning to Instagram would allow Meghan to commercialise herself on a Kardashian level, earning yet more millions and even billions in the process.
She is no stranger to monetising her online output, having secured a number of profitable product placement deals before she met Harry, through her now-defunct website, The Tig, named after her favourite Tignanello wine.
And there’s the not insignificant matter of her own autobiography. Having let it be known that she kept a diary during her time as a working member of the Royal family, Meghan has made no secret of the fact she has a voice and is not afraid to use it.
Declaring she has “a lot to say until I don’t”, she told The Cut: “It’s interesting, I’ve never had to sign anything that restricts me from talking. I can talk about my whole experience and make a choice not to.”
While the duke has reason to reconcile with his family, his own flesh and blood, the Duchess is not bound by such ties. The couple are said to have a four-book deal with Penguin Random House. Harry received a reported US$20 million (NZ$32.9m) advance for Spare, the duchess has already published her children’s book, The Bench, and a health and wellness guide is said to be in the pipeline. It therefore follows that the fourth and final book could be Meghan’s memoirs.
In the meantime, the couple will move onto the next phase in their multi-million dollar, multi-year deal with Netflix by departing from content about themselves and focusing on “on fictional, scripted content”.
As a source told The Daily Telegraph last month: “It will be rom coms, feel good and light-hearted programmes.” They are also both working on individual projects, including the duke’s Heart of Invictus documentary series which is due for release this summer.
The Harry & Meghan documentary was one of Netflix’s biggest successes. Photo / Netflix
The move towards scripted content has triggered yet more staff changes at Archewell, with both Ben Browning, internal content head, and Fara Taylor, who leads the marketing team, leaving later this year and not being replaced. The departures follow those of Mandana Dayani, chief operating officer, and Rebecca Sananes, head of audio.
With such a busy schedule – and seemingly fewer staff – it would appear unlikely that Meghan will attend the Coronation on May 6. The date clashes with Archie’s fourth birthday, providing the Duchess with the perfect excuse to duck her royal in-laws – and a British public that may not offer her the warmest of welcomes.
This week, the couple’s reputations took a new battering with an entire South Park episode dedicated to mocking their “World Privacy Tour”. In one scene of the irreverent cartoon, written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and broadcast on Comedy Central on Wednesday, they are described as “a dumb prince and his stupid wife”.
Yet with yet more money-making schemes on the horizon, lesser-spotted Meghan may end up having the last laugh … all the way to the bank.
