A barefoot girl wearing bunny ears runs through a glorious garden in the soft spring sunshine, carrying a basket and a toy bunny. She and her brother race to find eggs as their mother cheers. The boy frowns with concentration as he decorates Easter eggs.
These are snapshots of a supremely idyllic Montecito childhood, as shared in an Instagram video on Sunday night by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.
Only two days earlier, she had shared another striking video, this time of son Archie, who is six, on a skiing trip with his father, Prince Harry. She captioned it: ‘My boys. Quick learner, Archie! So proud (heart emoji).’ The deserted ski slope appears to be at a private resort in Montana where Harry holidayed with Justin Trudeau, the former PM of Canada, and ski champ Eileen Gu last week.
It’s not known whether Meghan was on that trip.
Both posts were described as a ‘rare glimpse’ of her children Archie and Lilibet, but in fact that’s not really true – at least not any more.
Meghan posted a picture of her cuddling daughter Lilibet for International Women’s Day on March 8, and on February 14 posted another picture of Lilibet, this time cuddling Prince Harry. Lilibet’s face – for once – was clearly visible, albeit in profile.
And in the video of Archie decorating an egg, his face – again for the first time – could be clearly seen, although he was looking down rather than at the camera.
In some previous snaps she has obscured the children’s faces with emojis or, more typically, posted only pictures in which the backs of their heads are visible.
The Duchess of Sussex shared a video of her children racing to find eggs at Easter
Meghan has always been reluctant to ‘offer up’ her children for public consumption – ever since those first pictures of baby Archie, swaddled to obscure his face, after he was born. That was due to a lively dislike of the Press in general, and the Royal Rota (the select media pool that gets access to official royal engagements) in particular.
But now, in two months, she has posted four times to show off the ‘Montecito Two’. In that period, William and Kate have posted precisely zero pictures of their children on Instagram.
Indeed, although Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are seen on family and State occasions, they have not been featured in a post by the Prince and Princess of Wales since December 31.
It’s a striking change for Meghan, and one which you might think surprising given Prince Harry’s very passionate regard for privacy for himself and his family.
It’s also surprising given the hostility which he and Meghan both apparently harbour towards social media. The couple released celebratory statements when Australia banned social media for the under-16s last year and have long campaigned for corporations to take greater responsibility for online harms, and supported parents’ organisations.
Last month a US court found Meta and Google liable for one woman’s social media addiction, after she said it had damaged her mental health. In response to the ruling, the Sussexes issued a statement which said: ‘This verdict is a reckoning. For too long, families have paid the price for platforms built with total disregard for the children they reach.
‘We stand with every parent and young person who refuses to be silenced. Today, the truth has been heard and precedent has been set. Let this be the change – where our children’s safety is finally prioritised above profit.’
So what in the name of bunny ears is going on? A California source told me around three weeks ago that Meghan is settling on her next direction, and that the new pivot will involve leaning into what she calls her greatest and most relatable role – as a mother.
She has been talking for years about how meaningful she finds being a mother, and now this is going to be her focus. Naturally, she will have to build her ‘mom’ identity on Instagram since you cannot have a lifestyle brand without using social media.
Harry, meanwhile, remains focused on his own philanthropic work – that brand separation which was first disclosed in the Daily Mail two years ago still holds sway.
Since stepping away from Sentebale, the charity he co-founded in 2006 to help vulnerable children in Lesotho, his focus has been on Invictus and the Invictus Games, which supports disabled former servicemen and women, and on mental health initiatives – notably those that campaign against the ‘harms’ of social media. He also has two part-time jobs, with the companies BetterUp and Travalyst.
Over the past few months, the Duchess has flown to sit front row at a fashion show in Paris, starred on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar, made a cameo return to acting and undertaken a quasi Royal tour of Jordan in February.
Lilibet is seen wearing bunny ears and carrying a basket during the egg hunt
Archie is seen decorating an egg at Easter in the Duchess of Sussex’s video
Lilibet clutches a large toy bunny as she wanders through a garden in the spring sunshine
Plus there has been endless online shilling of her ‘lifestyle’ brand As Ever, with videos and posts coming on an almost daily basis on Instagram. The brand now offers chocolates, plugged with a grimacing smile by Prince Harry, and once offered an extremely expensive box of gardenia flowers, to accompany Meghan’s jam and tea.
Is it successful? The exit of Netflix – an initial partner in the brand – suggests not.
People who have been in their circle suggest Meghan lacks focus. One says: ‘It’s scattergun, she is just trying anything to see what sticks.’
Which is as good a reason as any as to why she is now moving into the ‘mommy space’. My source said: ‘Nobody wants to pay for her kitchen tips, but this is an area where she can find some credibility. It’s not lost on anyone that she keeps on posting videos of her with Lili, it feels like it’s almost every day now. That’s where she is going, and there is so much money in it.’
After the tricky episode where she was called out for using jam tongs upside down, and the negative reactions to some of her crafts and ‘recipes’ on the Netflix show With Love, Meghan, you can’t blame her for getting out of the kitchen and embracing her life as a mother-of-two.
In one earlier interview, the Duchess even suggested that she has taken so naturally to child-rearing that her friends always ask her for advice as they know she has read all the books.
Her appearance for a ‘fireside chat’ at Her Best Life, a women-only retreat in Australia – which runs from April 17-19 when the couple are in Sydney – should be seen in this context. Events such as the one she will be speaking at are highly lucrative.
There is a huge influencer economy in the ‘motherhood space’, and Meghan has returned in a number of interviews to the theme of her relatability: she says that, despite her fortune and fortunate circumstances, she is just like other working mothers, doing school runs, filling lunchboxes and cooking ‘mama meals’ for the children who adore her.
To be effective here, she’ll need to invade the privacy of her family. But, as her recent Instagram videos of Lilibet show, this is something she seems willing to do.
There is a sense at this point of Meghan and Harry engaging with whatever it is going to take to make their finances work.
During their Australian visit next week, Meghan will be posing for pictures with fans after an ‘in person’ chat at a gala dinner at the InterContinental Sydney Hotel. It can be revealed that all 300 tickets, costing between $2,699 (£1,411) and $3,199 (£1,672) sold out within a week, meaning that organisers will have taken around $750,000 (£391,950).
Not all that money, naturally, will go in Meghan’s direction, but the fee is thought to be a fat one, apparently in the region of $250,000 (£130,645).
Her husband Prince Harry’s public-facing engagement in Australia is also a money-spinner. He is due to make an appearance at the InterEdge Summit, a for-profit symposium on ‘psychosocial safety’ in the workplace, in Melbourne on April 15 and 16.
Unfortunately it has still not sold out even though tickets have been on sale for nearly a month. Those tickets cost $1,978.65 (£1,034) for gold level and $2,378.65 (£1,243) for platinum, and the capacity is 250. A new cheaper tier has since been introduced.
It won’t make a difference to the Prince’s pocket – he’ll get the negotiated fee in any case, which is thought to be around $50,000 (£26,130).
That’s a step down from his wife’s fee; if you were feeling unkind you could say that he has gone from being Prince William’s ‘spare’ to that of his wife Meghan.
The platinum ticket offers ‘networking opportunities’, but it’s not clear if the Prince is selling actual access to himself at this point. Perhaps not just yet. He will take part in an exclusive lunchtime Q&A session for the platinum ticket holders, though.
The principle of allowing the great unwashed to pay to get close to the Sussexes was set – as revealed by this newspaper late last year – when their charity Archewell took part in an event which raised money via Charitybuzz.
That organisation auctions access to celebrities typically at charity events, in order to support good causes. (Paying to have access to a working member of the Royal family is seen as a no-no. One of Fergie’s many mistakes was to offer access to Prince Andrew for cash.)
Why is it seen as undesirable? It’s felt to be beneath the dignity of the Royal Family but also opens the very real possibility that they will end up associating with exactly the ‘wrong kind of people’.
That scenario appears to be in play already for Meghan, who may be contractually obliged to pose for a photo with one fan who goes by the social media handle ‘Zandi Sussex’. This individual has twice accused Meghan’s sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales of ‘faking’ her cancer, which is exactly the kind of online hate against which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex campaign. ‘I went VIP so our table gets a photo with Meghan,’ wrote Zandi. Others, including some notorious troll accounts which target the Duchess, claim also to have bought tickets.
The couple say that the trip will be a combination of philanthropic, business and personal engagements, much as we have come to expect from their trips abroad so far. The good causes will include funding the Sussexes themselves, who have had to pay for their expensive California lifestyle without any help from King Charles’ coffers following Megxit in 2020.
They are planning a visit to the Invictus Australia team and will also meet with some of those – apparently including politicians – who backed Australia’s ban on social media for Under-16s last year.
A ‘source close to the couple’ piously told a newspaper: ‘There is a lot of misinformation being spread about this trip – all designed to whip up hate. The truth is, you have a couple heading down under for work. While they’re in town, they’re going to check in on some charitable causes they have long supported and – in the Duke’s case with the Invictus Games – he set up.
‘The couple are critically aware that by just visiting a charity, they can help shine a light on its work – bringing media attention that wouldn’t otherwise exist. They don’t have to do that.
‘They could just as easily get paid and head straight back to California. It’s an irrational reaction to criticise a couple who just want to support some the charitable causes close to them. God forbid they try to do any good in a world that could, frankly, use a little more Harry and Meghan, and a little less sniping from ‘Royal Commentators’.
While there, the couple will be supported by a team. It’s one which has been shrinking thanks to numerous departures among staff and the decimation of their charity foundation, which now only seems to have one (freelance) person left on its books.
One of their most senior associates James Holt, a long-standing friend and the leader of their charity Archewell until late last year, will not be there.
He was meant to be supporting them on an ad hoc case by case basis after leaving the Archewell Foundation among redundancies and a complete restructuring in December and he was in the team for their two-day visit to Jordan earlier this year, but he won’t be in Australia.
Instead Shauna Nep, of Archewell, will attend.
PR support will be given by ex-serviceman Liam Maguire. PR chief Meredith Maines quit in November last year after the Kris Jenner birthday party debacle. (My understanding is that her advice not to ask for pictures to be taken off social media after the party – which was held the night before Remembrance Sunday – wasn’t heeded, so she decided to move on).
In her place Meghan has rehired the agency Sunshine Sachs, who used to look after her when she was an actress. Her longstanding friend Keleigh Thomas Morgan, who was at the Royal Wedding, is on the team alongside Shawn Sachs. But neither Morgan nor Sachs will be in Australia.
Meghan shared a video last week of her son Archie, who is six, on a skiing trip with his father, Prince Harry . She captioned it: ‘My boys. Quick learner, Archie! So proud (heart emoji.)’ The deserted ski slope appears to be at a private resort in Montana
On February 14, Meghan posted another picture of Lilibet, this time cuddling Prince Harry. Lilibet’s face – for once – was clearly visible, albeit in profile
Meghan posted a picture of her cuddling daughter Lilibet for International Women’s Day on March 8
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, seen in Wellington, Florida, in 2024 at an event for the Sentebale charity, which the Prince has since stepped away from
There will be just two more aides in Australia: Sarah Fosmo (Meghan’s Chief of Staff) and Miranda Barbot (Harry’s Chief of Staff).
That’s fewer people by far than supported the Sussexes when they undertook an official Royal Tour of Australia in 2018. Back then there were four PRs, two private secretaries, a PA, a hairdresser and stylist Jessica Mulroney, whose services Meghan was paying for privately. Plus two local staff were taken on to help with logistics – so 11 people in total rather than four.
You wonder if the Sussexes ever reflect at this point on how their star has fallen. With the publication of that disastrous article in film industry magazine Variety last month about Netflix being ‘done’ with them, they surely will have mulled it over.
And you wonder who is advising them now – and what advice are they giving.
One thing to note is that the couple parted ways a long time ago with the very influential talent agency WME. A well-placed insider at the respected Hollywood talent agency (full name William Morris Endeavor) said the Duchess of Sussex fell out with them over a ‘lack of cover over the holidays’ around Thanksgiving in 2023, and as a result they quietly opted to stop working together.
A source said: ‘She complained that she was having to do everything herself and WME essentially told her to get lost.’
The news means Meghan is without the formidable bargaining power of WME and its influential boss Ari Emanuel at the point when their deal with Netflix has been downgraded and success stories are in short supply.
One well-placed Hollywood insider said: ‘There is no way that the Variety piece (about her fall out with Netflix) would have run if WME were still looking after Meghan.’
A source in the Sussex camp demurs that WME are ‘still involved’ with Meghan, but that formulation does not mean that there is a current contractual relationship.
I’m told that all concerned agreed that they would not comment on the split, and indeed back in February last year the story of the break-up was denied by WME and Sussex sources, after the New York Post said that it had happened.
At least, though, they will have the chance to make money. The last time Meghan was in Australia – on a triumphant post-Royal-wedding tour in 2018 – Meghan had a complaint: ‘I can’t believe I’m not getting paid for this,’ she reportedly grumbled to staff after spending hours shaking hands with well-wishers and receiving dozens of bouquets from children.
There’s no danger of a replay when she gets Down Under this time.
