The Duchess of Sussex has left her husband to soak up the limelight alone. Photo / AP
The Duchess of Sussex has left her husband to soak up the limelight alone. Photo / AP
OPINION:
Since leaving the royal family, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have preferred to appear as a pair.
“We’re like salt and pepper,” Meghan opined in an interview. “We always move together.”
Recent months have seen the couple release their six-part Netflix documentary series, Harry & Meghan (promoted by seemingly endless trailers), followed by a joint, high-profile appearance at a glitzy event in New York where they accepted a human rights award.
Even when projects have been helmed by the Duchess, such as her Archetypes podcast, which was accompanied by wide-ranging interviews with The Cut magazine and Variety, Prince Harry has popped up in a supporting role.
Whether making a cameo appearance during her conversation with Serena Williams, juggling at the window in her 40th birthday video or joining children at a New York school when she was promoting her own book, The Bench, the Duke has always been on-hand to lend his name to his wife’s endeavours.
He joined her for the second half of the Oprah Winfrey interview and “appeared from somewhere in the house” to tell the journalist from The Cut that Meghan had complained after her photoshoot that she was a mum, not a model.
Similarly, the Duchess popped up in the Duke’s Apple TV+ docu-series about mental health and a promotional video for the Invictus Games.
But, since Christmas, Prince Harry has been left to soak up the limelight alone.
As he embarked on an unprecedented publicity blitz to promote his memoir Spare this month, Meghan has remained below the radar - and sent a clear message: ‘This is Harry’s project, not mine’.
As with anything to do with the Sussexes, there has been much sniping and speculation online about the Duchess’ perceived influence.
The book has Meghan’s fingerprints all over it, some have claimed - her voice throughout is unmistakable; she is the puppet master pulling the strings.
Many believe Meghan is largely behind Harry's memoir 'Spare'. Photo / Getty Images
But in fact, such claims could not be further from the truth.
While the Duchess has backed her husband to the hilt over this deeply personal outpouring, she was not quite the driving force behind the project that many have assumed.
Sources suggest that media-savvy Meghan was slightly more circumspect about the concept of a memoir and may have raised gentle concerns about whether it was the right move.
No stranger to taking on her enemies, she is understood to have been more wary than the Duke about this particular project.
Prince Harry, burning with resentment towards his father, his brother and the press, was fuelled by a bitter determination to right the wrongs of his past, but his wife took a broader view.
That said, once Harry had made up his mind and embarked on the two-year process with ghostwriter JR Moehringer, the Duchess is said to have offered her full support and to be immensely proud of his achievements.
The pair made a joint, high-profile appearance at a glitzy event in New York where they accepted a human rights award. Photo / Getty Images
“Is this the way she would have approached things? Possibly not,” said one source. “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.”
The memoir, released on January 10, became the fastest-selling non-fiction book on record, and the biggest-selling memoir in its first week of publication, shifting 750,000 copies in its first week in the UK alone.
The Duke has made no secret of his hope that by laying all of his cards on the table, he will jolt his family into a reaction - that they will contact him to apologise and lay the foundations for reconciliation.
In the many interviews the Duke gave to promote the book in recent weeks, he repeated that message.
“I still would like reconciliation,” he told ITV. “And not only would that be wonderful for us, but it would be fantastic for them as well.”
Throughout the many agonised television appearances, the Duchess has remained holed up at their Montecito home.
One source close to the Sussexes noted that if she had been involved in any aspect of promoting the book, she would have been accused of trying to steal the limelight.
Perhaps, some suggest, she feels she has nothing to gain.
Harry is contracted to promote the book, but also wanted to set out his stall and make public appeals for peace with his family, albeit juxtaposed with further barbs.
Meghan has said her piece via Winfrey, among others.
She has also let it be known that she kept a diary during her time as a working royal and has “a lot to say until I don’t”, as she told The Cut last summer, words interpreted by some as a thinly veiled threat to the royal family.
“It takes a lot of effort to forgive. I’ve really made an active effort, especially knowing that I can say anything,” she added.
“It takes a lot of effort to forgive. I’ve really made an active effort, especially knowing that I can say anything," said Meghan. Photo / Getty Images
While the Duke has reason to reconcile with his family, his own flesh and blood, the Duchess is not bound by such ties.
She may back her husband in seeking peace with his family and with it, peace of mind, but for her, they represent a miserable chapter of a life now left far behind.
As such, royal sources have indicated that they think it unlikely she will attend the King’s coronation at Westminster Abbey on May 6.
The book has hardly boosted the couple’s popularity, with approval ratings falling on both sides of the pond.
Prince Harry has been called a hypocrite for betraying family confidences in his book 'Spare' whilst fighting for privacy. Photo / Getty Images
The Duke has been accused of stupidity for choosing to reveal the number of Taliban insurgents he killed in Afghanistan and of hypocrisy for betraying family confidences while fighting for privacy.
The Duke and Duchess have, for now, retreated together into the shadows as they take stock and digest how their many revelations have gone down.
When they do re-emerge, they will likely be together, just like those salt and pepper pots.
