Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
While she shines in her new role, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is also facing the stress of complex family and friend relationships
It’s the year of Prince Harry and his new wife Meghan. The gorgeous couple made the world stop when they tied the knot on May 19 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. And it looks like it will be a year of milestones for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as they plan to welcome their first child into the world.
Sparking pregnancy reports when she stepped out on Sept. 6 looking more curvy than usual, Meghan and Harry may have an announcement for royal fans any day now. Harry and Meghan have made no secret of their desire to have a baby and it seems it’s a case of the sooner, the better, as those closest to Harry and Meghan confirm. “Meghan and I were at an event in the Cayman Islands and Meghan discussed her future with me, and I said to her: ‘Meghan, what about kids? Would you like to have children?’ Meghan’s former agent Gina Nelthorpe-cowne revealed. “She said to me, ‘I would absolutely love to have children, and I can’t wait to be a mother.’ ”
Harry and Meghan have been publicly open about their procreating plans. “Of course,” Harry said when asked about babies in a November 2017 BBC interview, just after the pair got engaged. “You know, one step at a time. Hopefully we’ll start a family in the near future.”
In March, while on royal duties in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the pair couldn’t help themselves when chatting to the owners of Shnuggle, a company that makes innovative baby products. Meghan was spotted inspecting a changing mat, a Moses basket and a baby bath that allows the baby to sit up, before she reportedly said, “I am sure at one point we will need the whole thing.”
In the four months since she and Harry wed, Meghan has owned the royal spotlight. She and Harry will soon tackle their biggest joint engagement to date: a two-week tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. “The tour is going to be her chance to shine,” Ingrid Seward, author of the recent biography of the Queen and Prince Philip, My Husband and I says. “She knows she’ll be centre stage and everyone is going to want to meet her. It is her biggest part yet. I’m absolutely confident she will be very, very good.”
“I can’t wait to be a mother”
When she steps out in front of the world, she shines but the past few months haven’t been without major challenges. Behind the scenes, Meghan, 37, is still struggling to contain the family drama that has plagued her since she first announced her engagement to Harry, 33, last year. Her father, Thomas Markle, has continued to give explosive interviews about his strained relationship with his daughter and the royal family. “It was very wearing on her. It’s her private life,” a source says. Seward adds, “The beginning of marriages are not that easy, but to have that impetus of your own family being disloyal is horrible and embarrassing.”
There have been other challenges. “Meghan has lost touch with some of her close friends from before the wedding, which has been tough,” says a source. “She’s finding it hard to know who to trust.”
But the former Suits star has maintained an inner circle that includes makeup artist Daniel Martin and stylist Jessica Mulroney. Earlier this summer she jetted – commercial! – 5635
kilometres from London to Toronto to visit Mulroney. “There’s a small group of us that check in with her and see how she’s doing, but she’s still the same person,” Martin, who did her wedding makeup, says.
She has also made new friends through her husband, which was evident at the Aug. 4 wedding of Harry’s close pal Charlie van Straubenzee. Meghan “was happy and smiley,” a fellow guest says. “She was in lovely form.”
The newlyweds have been spending time with Harry’s father, Prince Charles, who hosted them at the remote Castle of Mey in Scotland this summer. Meghan is also focusing on the tasks ahead, including her charity work. “We’re already working behind the scenes with her, and she’s very keen to work on female empowerment,” Lorraine Heggessey, chief executive of the Royal Foundation, says. “She’s a very smart woman, and I think she will find her royal voice in a way that suits her personality.”
Whether at the couple’s country getaway in the Cotswolds or Nottingham Cottage at Kensington Palace in London, Meghan takes pains to fly under the radar when she’s not on royal duty. “She spends most of her weekends in the Cotswolds with Harry,” says a source. “When she does venture out to Pilates or to get her hair done, she normally goes incognito under a baseball cap.” In the past “the only other place she has visited regularly is Whole Foods, which is little more than five minutes away from Kensington Palace.”
Meghan’s next big venture will come when she travels to Australia with Harry on Oct. 16 for their first major international tour together. The pair will be in the country for the upcoming Invictus Games, which will be held in Sydney from Oct. 20-27. “Tours are full-on, and the couple will be watched every day,” Ken Wharfe, former bodyguard to Princess Diana, says. “It is a strain. This is not like getting on stage and getting on a film set, because she has to deal with it every day.”
As Martin says, Meghan is “not an actress anymore.” She’s even doing her own makeup for all her royal engagements. “She likes to talk, and she’s not a fussy person, so she doesn’t want to have to worry about anything,” he says. “She’s just trying to get it on and get out the door.” It’s a nonstop pace she and Harry will need to quickly master together. “She is going to be in the spotlight for the rest of her life,” an insider says. “She has signed up to this forever, and maybe that has not hit her yet. They are, after all, still on their honeymoon, really.”