Meghan Markle has 'dropped out of the conversation'in the United States as royal watchers and industry insiders increasingly focus on Princess Kate and King Charles's health battles, a friend and adviser to the Royal Family has claimed in comments published on Friday in London.
For context,Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have lived in Montecito, California, since 2020, the year they stepped down as working royals and began repositioning themselves as global celebrity philanthropists. In that time, the couple has launched a flurry of high-profile projects: Harry's memoir, the couple's Netflix documentaries and interview specials, and, most recently, Meghan's lifestyle ventureAs Ever, described in its own marketing as 'more than a brand, it's a love language'.
None of it, one veteran royal insider suggests, has translated into the type of enduring stateside buzz the Sussexes appeared to be banking on.
Speaking toThe Times, as reported byExpress UK, the unnamed friend of the Royal Family argued that the couple's experiment in life after the monarchy has yet to land with the American public. 'What they haven't been able to do is create a public presence that's respected and popular,' the source said, adding that during a recent trip to Los Angeles, they were struck by how little the Sussexes featured in day‑to‑day Hollywood conversations.
'I was in LA recently and was struck by how they're not the topic of conversation,' the insider told the paper. 'Everyone wanted to know about the King and Kate's health. Harry and Meghan have dropped out of the conversation.'
Those remarks, unflattering as they are for Meghan Markle, do come from a single, unnamed source rather than formal polling, so they should be treated with caution. There is no hard data in the report measuring US popularity or comparing the duchess directly with the Princess of Wales. Still, the claim does chime with a clear reality: when senior royals fall ill, the public mood tends to recalibrate around them, and that includes audiences far beyond Britain.
The news came after a bruising period for the Royal Family that has pushed health, rather than celebrity, to the centre of the royal narrative.
Princess Kate underwent majorabdominal surgeryin January 2024 and spent two weeks in the London Clinic. In March, she confirmed in a carefully filmed video message that she had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing preventative chemotherapy. Her announcement, delivered directly to the camera, reached audiences worldwide and immediately became the dominant royal story.
That revelation followed another: King Charles had beendiagnosed with a form of cancera month earlier. The King temporarily stepped back from public duties, returning to engagements in late April. For many observers, the double blow recast the Windsors not as a glamorous soap opera but as a family grappling, in public, with private vulnerability.
In the US, where royal intrigue is usually filtered through streaming dramas and glossy magazine spreads, that shift appears to have pulled focus away from Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's ongoing rebrand. While the couple's supporters argue they were the ones who made the Firm's internal struggles visible, the sympathy narrative in 2024 has undeniably settled around the monarch and the future queen.
Source: International Business Times UK
