Meghan: A Different Kind Of Royal

AFTER 16 DAYS and 76 official engagements, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s tour of Australia and New Zealand finally drew to a close last week.

- Hannah Flint And Harriet Kean

By all accounts, it was one of the most successful royal tours in recent memory. Meghan, in particular, was widely praised after she gave an empowering speech on female suffrage in New Zealand (during which she refrained from using notes and spoke Maori). Then, in a moving moment, the duchess was seen having a surprise meeting with a 20-year-old student who she had once counselled on Instagram (way before she met Prince Harry) to ‘work hard and be herself ’.

But despite the positive headlines on tour, which also saw Meghan navigate the early stages of pregnancy, the pair returned home to a slew of less-than-favourable stories about their extended family. And for once, they weren’t about Meghan’s father. Just days before the tour ended, news erupted of an explosive new biography about Prince Charles (Charles At Seventy: Thoughts, Hopes And Dreams) by royal commentator and Grazia contributor Robert Jobson.

He followed the Prince of Wales and his closest associates around the world for 18 months to gather information for the book. Among his claims was the revelation that there has long been a ‘froideur’ between Princes William and Harry and their father. According to sources, that distance has only recently come to an end thanks to the arrival of Meghan (more on which later).

‘To this day,’ Robert writes in the biography, ‘Charles admits he often finds it difficult to gauge either of his sons’ occasionally unpredictable moods. Both boys blame Charles for being absent through much of their childhood.’