MEGHAN SETTLES
IN The Duchess of Sussex is finding her new life a heady whirl.
MMeghan Markle’s transformation into the Duchess of Sussex appeared to be complete—from head to toe—on May 22, a mere three days after she and Prince Harry tied the knot in a historic ceremony at St George’s Chapel in Windsor. With her custom Philip Treacy hat (a go-to milliner for her new sister-in-law, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge), polished side chignon ( bye, bye, messy bun) and her usual bare legs covered with sheer pantyhose, the former Suits star’s laidback California style seemed a thing of the past. Effortlessly navigating her way through her first engagement as a royal—a Buckingham Palace garden party in honour of Prince Charles’s 70th birthday—she shared easy laughter with her new father-in-law and even clasped hands with mother-in-law Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. “They were being really warm and friendly,” says a guest at the party. “The relationship is obviously very comfortable and supportive.”
It’s a remarkably affectionate bond for the famously reserved royals—and just the latest in a series of fast-tracked milestones for Meghan, 36, who had already breezed through a series of public engagements even before her May 19 wedding to Prince Harry. Now she has a new title, a new coat of arms (see p. 7) and everything that goes along with it—including the Queen’s former aide, Samantha Cohen, to guide her through the ins and outs of a life very few people in history have ever experienced. “Samantha has been helping her with protocol— how to address people and deftly manage her new situation in the royal world,” says an insider. Meghan, who officially quit acting upon the announcement of her engagement to Harry in November, “needs to carve out a role that she is happy
with, or she will go crazy,” says the insider. The constraints of royal duty, which call for an abundance of caution, and layers of vetting and deliberation, can feel oppressive to even seasoned members of the family. With Cohen, a former Queensland journalist who is well liked by both William and Harry, helping to guide, “she will make sure Meghan is as happy as she can be without ruffling feathers,” says the source. “She will represent her voice both internally and externally and fight her battles.”
By all accounts, Meghan has already been embraced by “the Firm,” as the royal family is sometimes known—most clearly when Prince Charles escorted her to the altar on her wedding day. “It was rather beautiful that she was welcomed into her new family by her new fatherin-law,” says Colleen Harris, Charles’s former press secretary. “That was quite symbolic.”
Of course, Meghan’s key support continues to be her mum, Doria Ragland, a yoga instructor and social worker who returned home to Los Angeles a few days after gracefully stepping into the spotlight at her daughter’s wedding. “She has a softness, but I detected a steely core to her,” says a royal family friend. “She has come through a hell of a lot. She was lovely to talk to and bursting with pride.”
And it’s clear where Meghan gets her independent streak. Ragland told a neighbour “that Meghan wanted to move her [to London],” says the friend, however, “Doria didn’t want to hear about it. She likes her neighbourhood and plans to stay, for now at least.” Meghan’s longtime friend and makeup artist Daniel Martin says, “Meghan draws a lot of strength from her mother. Doria is classy, chic and confident, but not unapproachable. I definitely feel Meghan gets a lot of that from her mother.”
Today, that steady confidence is as essential to Meghan’s new life as it was in the early days of her romance with Harry. Martin, who did her wedding makeup, was one of the few people in whom Meghan confided before the relationship went public. “She came to New York [in March 2017] for a UN meeting that got snowed in, and we went to have dinner,” says Martin. “And that’s when she told me. Just the way that she was telling me I could see, ‘Oh my goodness, he’s The One.’ She had to keep everything so quiet for so long. She really needed to make sure that this was for them. It helped their relationship,
because it was just the two of them in this time, no-one else.”
Now the couple’s strong partnership will extend to their royal work. Meghan will likely focus on issues concerning “young women and teenage girls. She is familiarising herself with the landscape in this country,” says Lorraine Heggessey, chief executive officer of the Royal Foundation, which oversees the charitable efforts of William, Kate, Harry and now Meghan. “She’s meeting groups and wants to do that privately so she can get to know people.” In February, at her first joint appearance alongside Harry, William and Kate, Meghan said she hoped to “hit the ground running” in support of women’s rights. “With so many campaigns like #Metoo and Time’s Up, there’s no better time to continue to shine a light on women feeling empowered and
people supporting them,” she said during the panel discussion. Adds a royal insider, “She’s not going to want to be a quiet princess, and simply open hospitals or cut ribbons.”
On a personal note, the next big milestone on their horizon is children. The couple have made no secret of wanting to be parents, with Harry saying in the couple’s engagement interview, “hopefully we’ll start a family in the near future”—and Meghan noting their eventual need for baby gear during a public outing in March. “I imagine they will probably think about a family really quickly,” a wedding guest says. And they’ll have plenty of opportunities to see what it takes to raise a family: William and Kate and their three children, 4-year-old Prince George, 3-yearold Princess Charlotte and 5-week-old Prince Louis, are their neighbours at Kensington Palace. During the family portrait shoot on their wedding day, the bride and groom gravitated towards the littlest members of their bridal party. “They wanted to see their family and see the kids and be together,” says Martin. “So when it was time to take a photo, it was really easy and harmonious and joyful and Harry was playing with the kids.”
Still, with at least one overseas trip on the horizon for the couple—to Australia in October for the Invictus Games—insiders predict a royal baby won’t be likely to arrive before summer 2019. In the meantime, Meghan is set to make her first appearance alongside Harry and the rest of the royal family on the Buckingham Palace balcony during the annual Trooping the Colour celebrations on June 9. But she’s already proven she can hold her own with her inlaws, having confidently broken tradition by giving a speech in front of the family at her wedding reception.
“She’s a very warm person. Her speech showed how capable she is,” says a guest. Adds Martin: “There is a lot of work ahead of her, and it takes a really strong person to fill those shoes. This is now a huge platform for Meghan to really get into the activism that she wants to do. She’s really stoked about taking on the role and trying to make change happen.”