Harry’s bombshell & Meghan’s climb to power
As Meghan plans celebrations for her milestone 40th birthday and Harry completes writing ‘a firsthand account of my life’ - it seems that life is more eventful than ever for the renegade Royals
As she prepares to celebrate her 40th birthday next Wednesday (4 August), it’s easy to imagine Meghan Markle looking back and thinking, ‘Just how did I get here?’
In the space of a decade, she has gone from being a struggling actress from a middle-class American family – to one of the most famous women in the world. But one who will be remembered for playing a part in the seismic rift between Prince Harry and the British Royal Family.
Now, with the news that Harry has taken the unprecedented step of writing a memoir about his life – as he puts it, ‘not as the prince I was born, but as the man I have become’ – it appears less likely than ever that the strained relationship between Harry and the rest of the Windsors will improve. In fact, it could prove the point of no return…
Due be published late next year by Penguin Random House, the book will be yet more publicity that the Royals, still shattered from the Oprah interview, will be dreading.
‘In an intimate and heartfelt memoir from one of the most fascinating and influential global figures of our time, Prince Harry will share, for the very first time, the definitive account of the experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons that have helped shape him,’ said the publisher.
The book, for which Harry has reportedly received a $20 million (£14.5m) advance – but for which ‘proceeds’ are said to be going to charity – will cast a shadow over the celebrations planned for the Queen’s 70th Jubilee.
Could it be the torch that will finally burn all bridges with The Firm for the Sussexes?
The Prince, of course, is now a very different figure to the outgoing, party-loving soldier the nation took to its heart.
It was back in 2016 that Harry and Meghan met on a blind date, set up by a mutual friend. Harry was later to reflect that on meeting the confident, beautiful actress, who was then 36 to his 32 and a committed social activist, he knew he had to ‘up his game’.
Their romance blossomed, culminating in Harry and Meghan’s departure from the Royal Family and a move first