When Meghan Markle first joined the Royal Family she was quickly characterised as a breath of fresh air for the Firm and with good reason.
Indeed, not only because of her nationality and career choice, Meghan was unique in the family because of her previous work with organisations such as the United Nations.
No doubt that with this in mind the late Queen Elizabeth II hoped that the Duchess of Sussex could use her unique skill set to carve out a role for herself within the Royal Family.
And Her Majesty was more than happy to help her do so.
Writing in her bestseller, titled The Palace Papers, royal author Tina Brown writes that the Queen ‘personally bestowed’ on Meghan the two roles as the patron of the National Theatre and as vice president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.
Brown said: ‘For 45 years, the Queen had been the patron of the National Theatre. She granted the juicy cultural honour to the former actress.
‘And, in an index that she did indeed appreciate the success of the Australia tour, she named Meghan vice president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust (Harry was its president) with a remit to support young people, especially women and girls.
‘It was a clear signal that the Sussexes would have their own high-profile territory as ambassadors of the organisation that was one of the Queen’s most treasured expressions of her sovereign power.’
Meghan Markle attends a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey in March 2018. When the Duchess of Sussex first joined the Royal Family she was quickly characterised as a breath of fresh air inside the Firm and for good reason
Meghan’s lofty ambitions for the Commonwealth lead to claims she had aspirations to become the ‘House of Windsor’s Melinda Gates’ (pictured)
According to Brown, Meghan was ‘genuinely chuffed’ with the appointment and set out to begin moulding the organisation in her image.
‘The organisation’s dusty image was ripe for a rebrand,’ Brown wrote.
‘The world’s most appealing royal couple could sprinkle their star dust and bring its mission of collaboration and outreach alive with new purpose.’
Meghan’s lofty ambitions for the Commonwealth lead Brown to claim she had aspirations to become the ‘House of Windsor’s Melinda Gates’ – the ex wife of billionaire Bill Gates whose charitable efforts led her to be recognised as one of the most powerful women in the world.
But her mission would face stumbling blocks that were entirely of her own making.
Brown wrote: ‘But modernising the imagery of the Commonwealth’s mission would take not only care and tact, but time. And time, it seems, was something Meghan did not have.’
She continued: ‘The grating problem was money. The royal predicament is all status and no quo. It was becoming clear to Meghan that without financial freedom, every effort to fulfil the Sussexes’ global dream was hitting a wall. Sharing office resources with the Cambridges meant they were junior partners in an underfunded operation.’
Brown claimed that Meghan faced the ‘unpalatable fact’ she was financially dependent on a husband who was ‘as reliant as a teenager on the Bank of Dad’.
Prince Harry and Meghan at the Bristol Old Vic theatre in 2019. Queen Elizabeth II had been patron of the National Theatre for 45 years before she passed the baton onto Meghan
Meghan attends a reception at the Commonwealth Youth Forum in April 2018. The Queen gave Meghan the role of vice president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust
The late Queen with Bill and Melinda Gates in March 2005
Brown added: ‘Meghan wanted a job, a paying job, she told the Palace team, and so did Harry. There was precedent. William had worked as an air ambulance pilot, but he had donated his salary to charity.’
However a job to satisfy Meghan was not found and in January 2020 Harry and Meghan announced they were stepping down as working royals.
Money played a crucial role in this decision.
According to royal author Valentine Low, any prospect of a soft ‘Megxit’ was scuppered by the Sussexes over their potential financial earnings.
Writing in his tell-all book Courtiers, Low claims that Meghan’s desire to ‘earn money for herself’ led the couple to abandon their duties entirely.
Low revealed that during discussions about how to reach a happy middle ground – which could please the whole family – multiple scenarios were explored.
These ranged from Harry and Meghan ‘having a month a year to do their own thing’ to ‘spending most of their time privately but doing a select number of royal activities’.
There was apparently a ‘positive atmosphere’ in the room, with each party believing a deal was close.
Harry and Meghan in April 2019. Meghan’s ‘lofty ambitions’ for the Commonwealth would face stumbling blocks that were entirely of her own making
The one caveat for the Sussexes continuing royal duties – however small or minor – was that they must stick to the ‘normal rules about royal behaviour’.
Crucially, that would mean Harry and Meghan could not ‘act or take decisions in order to gain financially’.
Low writes: ‘Some suspected that in the end she wanted to make money. And the only way she was going to do that was by leaving her royal life behind and going back to America.’
Free from the shackles of royal protocol, Meghan appears more ambitious than ever. The former Suits actress reportedly hopes to become a billionaire by launching a career in media and as a entrepreneur.
In March 2024, she soft-launched American Riviera Orchard before changing the company’s name to As Ever.
Announcing the venture, Meghan said: ‘This new chapter is an extension of what has always been my love language, beautifully weaving together everything I cherish – food, gardening, entertaining, thoughtful living, and finding joy in the everyday.’
The food products sold by the brand include an assortment of teas, edible flower sprinkles and a £20 jar of honey.
Speaking on an episode of her podcast, Confessions Of A Female Founder, Meghan revealed she has decided to ‘just pause’ restocking her As Ever brand after previously selling out of products in less than an hour.
Meghan has invested in a number of companies including the vegan coffee brand Clevr Blends and haircare line Highbrow Hippie.
She has also invested in asset manager Ethic, which focuses on sustainable investments.
Harry and Meghan signed a lucrative £18million deal with Spotify in 2020. However despite appearing to be a joint venture, the only show they produced was hosted by Meghan.
In the series, titled Archetypes, Meghan interviewed various celebrities from Serena Williams to Paris Hilton.
The deal was ‘mutually ended’ in June 2023 with sources claiming the music streaming giant did not see enough content to warrant the full payout.
Earlier this year, the duchess launched her Confessions Of A Female Founder podcast, which saw her chat with female business owners from an array of successful companies.
In a slight career change, Meghan also penned a children’s book in 2021 titled The Bench.
It follows the relationship of a father and son through the eyes of the mother and received mixed reviews from critics.
In their television projects, Harry and Meghan have kept a much more united front, but even so, the couple appear to be working separately more often.
Although an official figure was never announced, Harry and Meghan’s deal with Netflix was allegedly worth around £80million, and the couple produced multiple shows.
In 2022 the first Netflix series about the Sussexes was released, aptly named Harry and Meghan.
While it holds the record for the biggest debut for a Netflix documentary it received mixed reviews.
The pair were also executive producers on the Polo sports documentary series which followed athletes at the US Open Polo Championship.
In 2023, Meghan did not join Harry as an executive producer on the Heart Of Invictus series, although the duke and duchess did appear together in the show.
Meghan’s new podcast is one of her latest solo business ventures
Royal author Tina Brown in Palace Papers said: ‘Modernising the imagery of the Commonwealth’s mission would take not only care and tact, but time. And time, it seems, was something Meghan did not have’
Meghan’s first major solo television project was her lifestyle programme called With Love, Meghan, which saw her team up with a number of famous guests to cook and create homeware products.
Season two of the series launched last month but was somewhat overshadowed by claims that the streaming giant felt the couple had been an ‘expensive failure’.
‘The $100million deal has been an expensive failure for Netflix, however they want to dress it up’, one source told the Daily Mail in August.
Harry and Meghan have also signed a new ‘multi-year’ contract with Netflix, however, it is understood to be worth much less for the pair than their previous contract.
