Harry & Meghan's FINAL POWER PLAY

Inspired by Jacinda, the duchess is headed into politics!

- Karleigh Smith

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex might have only been in New York for three fleeting days, but that’s all it took for the couple to show the world – and especially the palace – that they mean business.

Their pleas for privacy over the past five years were long forgotten as they paraded through the Big Apple in front of a delighted press pack, attending closed-door meetings with the United Nations, rubbing shoulders with NYC’s governor and mayor, and hosting a starstudded bash in aid of vaccine equality – all while Meghan dripped in $150,000 worth of designer clothing and jewellery.

The 72 hours of glamorous public engagements, which ran up an eye-watering bill of almost $600,000, has been lambasted by British royal commentators as a “quasi royal tour” – and Woman’s Day’s Stateside insiders say that’s exactly what the Sussexes had hoped for.

“This whole New York trip was planned by Meghan and Harry as a power play to show the palace just what they’re missing out on by letting them go – and now they’re determined to prove that whatever the royals can do, they can do better,” says one close source. “Meghan is thrilled with the reception they received in New York, especially the standing ovation at the Global Citizen Live concert. It was proof to her that America is their oyster.”