This week, the Duchess of Sussex launched her new podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder. This is her first podcast through Lemonada, after the Sussexes were dropped by Spotify in 2023. The COAFF pod has come in the middle of so many new projects for Meghan. In the past six weeks, her Netflix show (With Love, Meghan) debuted and broke the top-ten most viewed in multiple countries (including the US and UK); she launched As Ever, her instantly sold-out product line; and she also debuted her ShopMy page, which will likely earn Meghan thousands in commissions. In addition to all of that, Meghan has blitzed the media with positivity and a “let’s keep it moving” attitude. She’s looking ahead, she’s not letting the hate machine narrate her moves, and this has all been an extremely successful pivot.
But you have to understand, the British media still believes that they alone can narrate Meghan’s life and career, and they believe that Meghan is still seeking their approval in some way. She is not. It’s shocking how no one over there can admit that: “actually, Meghan doesn’t give a sh-t about how the British media screams and cries about what she’s doing.” They’re like, she must care! She must want our advice! She deserves all of our mockery because she dared to leave us for her own sanity! Well, the BBC published this long-read analysis of “what Meghan is doing wrong/what can she do to save herself” and it’s just bizarre. They’re trying to pretend that her 2025 hasn’t been hugely successful already?
People want royal gossip, not jam! “The problem is that people are much more interested in the royal gossip than they are in learning how to make a jam.” The Countess of Sandwich gets to the crux of what she sees as the Duchess of Sussex’s rebrand dilemma. As an American woman who married into the British aristocracy back in 2004, the countess knows firsthand the challenge of slipping between two cultures. When I first spoke to her about this – long before “Megxit” – she was positive that Meghan would win over the nation. “Having this American optimism and this go-get attitude, that is what you guys kind of like about us, right?” she told me. Seven years on, the countess remains optimistic about Meghan’s progress. “As an American, I look at her and I think she’s a hustler. She’s taking these opportunities, using them as stepping stones to get to where she wants to go.”
People are only obsessed with Meghan because of her connection to the Windsors: According to Evan Nierman, a US-based public relations guru: “Whatever she does to distance herself, it comes back to Buckingham Palace and her relationship with the Royal Family.” Mark Borkowski, founder of the UK-based Borkowski communications agency, also believes that whatever Meghan does next, it will always be filtered through “the royal lens”. “Even when Meghan is launching jam or Harry is speaking about mental health, the coverage returns to the same question: are they thriving or failing in their post-royal life?”
The Sussexes’ tell-all era is over: One source who has worked with them described this [tell-all period] as “brave and idiotic”. With that chapter behind them, it was natural that they would focus on new income streams that don’t involve talking about the Royal Family. But as Mr Nierman, founder of Red Banyan Public Relations in the US, puts it: “She’s trying to stand out on her own, but she has this level of notoriety and fame that is inextricably linked to the Royal Family.” Much of the response to Meghan, positive or negative, “is driven by her marriage to Prince Harry and her ties to the Royal Family”, argues James Crawford, managing director of PR Agency One. “That connection shapes how everything she does is received.”
Sally Beddell Smith wonders why Meghan didn’t relaunch The Tig: “What mystifies me is why not relaunch The Tig,” she says, referring to the lifestyle website that Meghan once ran. It had brand loyalty and was easily identifiable. She did it well. It was snappy, it had a reason to exist. It could have really given her a leg up. Why not reignite it?”
The Sussexes braced themselves for criticism: And yet negative responses will not have surprised Prince Harry and Meghan, according to people who work with the couple. They were, I’m told, braced for criticism. And there were positive responses too, particularly outside the UK. “Some international press praised the show’s warm, feel-good tone and visual polish, seeing it as a natural return to Meghan’s pre-royal lifestyle roots,” points out Mr Crawford. “Likewise, her brand has been well received in some quarters for its positioning and premium aesthetic.”
Harry is Meghan’s spare!! For royal author Sally Bedell Smith, it’s no longer just about where Meghan pivots next, but how Prince Harry fits into that. “Do they scale back and live in a more modest way? Does Harry throw himself into the cause of helping veterans and do things in a quiet way and at a lower key?” With a pause she adds: “He’s now a spare to his wife.”
“Whatever Meghan does next, it will always be filtered through ‘the royal lens’.” Two things. One, of course everything will be “filtered through the royal lens” when royal reporters are the ones trying to narrate Meghan’s existence even though she’s been living back in California for five-plus years. They’re only quoting people whose whole raison d’etre is tying the Sussexes to the Windsors. Two, none of these people ever stops and asks themselves if Meghan being seen through the royal lens goes in a different direction – as in, Meghan is seen as the “anti” to the Windsors, and people support her specifically because of what she endured and survived (and because of what those horrible people are still actively doing to her). That’s why I refer to it as Meghan’s monarchy-destroying jam – the Windsors and their media screamed, cried and threw up over Meghan’s jam, like the jam represented an existential threat to them. Meghan’s fans were like “bet” and bought out her entire product line in less than an hour, they turned WLM into a hit show and they’re turning her podcast into a chart-topper too.
Photos courtesy of Lemonada, Netflix.
