Analysis: Five years ago, the Duchess of Sussex turned 40 in a milestone one UK newspaper said was the beginning of her “power decade”.
Now halfway through what was then hailed as her “most powerful decade to date”, Meghan is celebrating her 45th birthday today (August 4).
Meghan, pictured on August 4 last year, is celebrating her 45th birthday today. @meghan
While the first five years of her forties were all about establishing her post-royal career, the next five are likely to be just as pivotal as Meghan attempts to maintain her status as a lifestyle influencer.
Now firmly out of The Firm, her future seems to be solely focused on building her brand in the US.
When she and Prince Harry began their week-long non-royal tour of Australia in April, many thought it would coincide with the global expansion of her fruit spread and honey brand, As ever.
But four months on, and a year after she trademarked the company Down Under, As ever remains available to US-based customers only. Days ago, she released a new blackberry jam flavour − the only real launch in months.
Her days hosting With Love, Meghan for Netflix are all but over, with the show cancelled after two seasons and a Christmas special due to poor ratings.
She and Prince Harry are executive producers of a documentary film out this week in the US, on the Girls Scouts movement, called Cookie Queens. Days ago at a screening of the film, Meghan said she was impressed by how the girls approached entrepreneurship, using social media and other tools to maximise their sales.
Life imitating art, perhaps, with the duchess largely relying on social media to boost her post-royal profile and sales of As ever goods.
Meghan, arguably, is the ultimate multi-hyphenate. From actress-turned-royal-turned-royal outcast-turned-lifestyle influencer, a lot has changed for Meghan.
The Duchess of Sussex has gone from actress to royal to lifestyle influencer just over a decade. Getty
When she turned 30 in 2011, Meghan had gone from being a Deal or No Deal ‘briefcase girl’ to having just secured a role on the legal drama Suits, a TV job that would ultimately be her last full-time acting gig.
A month before turning 35 in 2016, Meghan met the man who would ultimately change her life forever. She and Prince Harry went on a blind date in July while Meghan was in London. They announced their engagement just over a year later and in May 2018, the couple married in what was the first major royal wedding since that of Prince William and Catherine.
Meghan’s introduction to royal life was a whirlwind: from her brief courtship with Harry to her wedding, the duchess quickly ticked off a list of ‘firsts’ just months after marrying her prince.
Days after saying ‘I do’ at St George’s Chapel, Meghan joined Harry for a Buckingham Palace garden party in celebration of then-Prince Charles’ 70th birthday. A month later Queen Elizabeth II − at the time said to be one of Meghan’s biggest supporters − invited the newly-titled duchess on board the royal train, an honour that had not been bestowed on her sister-in-law Catherine or even Prince William or Prince Harry.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, pictured on their wedding day at Windsor Castle in 2018. Chris Allerton
Then came Meghan’s first Trooping the Colour and appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony, followed soon after by Royal Ascot − a favourite event of Elizabeth II’s. The busy year was capped off with a mammoth tour to Australia which coincided with Prince Harry’s Invictus Games, held in Sydney for the first time. The couple announced their first pregnancy hours after arriving in Australia.
Prince Harry and Meghan briefly enjoyed a wave of popularity post-royal wedding as the monarchy’s new golden couple, but the situation quickly tarnished.
By the time Meghan turned 40 in 2021, she and Harry had settled in Montecito, California after quitting their places as senior working royals a year earlier.
In the same year Meghan turned 40, she became a mother for the second time with the birth of Princess Lilibet. She and Prince Harry began their verbal assault on the palace with that Oprah Winfrey interview.
Despite recently sharing 12 photos from their idyllic family holiday to Portugal and the UK, Prince Harry and Meghan are still finding time to complain about life.
Through sources who spoke to People magazine, Meghan felt “a lot of sadness” about how the family’s UK trip went, even though their two children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet met with their grandfather King Charles at Highgrove House.
The family’s UK return was “not how [Harry] wanted it”, a friend close to the prince told The Times. Had Harry secured the taxpayer-funded security he wanted, his children would have been involved in some public events, the publication said.
The duchess shared 12 photos from her and Prince Harry’s recent family holiday to the UK and Portugal. @meghan
It would be a major departure from how Prince Harry and Meghan have been doing things thus far. The privacy of their children has always been a sticking point and while the duchess posts many photos of Archie and Lilibet on Instagram, their faces are never seen in full.
Having the children take part in a public event would mark a new chapter for the children’s public profiles, but also in the way their parents deal with the press.
With Prince Harry planning a return to the UK in September, and still lobbying government to review his current security arrangements, a second royal reunion could be on the cards. He is hoping King Charles will join him at the next Invictus Games, to be held in Birmingham in 2017. Having Meghan, and their children, by his side, too, would be the ultimate victory for Harry, who told the BBC last year he would “love a reconciliation with my family”.
Meghan has reinvented herself as a lifestyle influencer since leaving the royal family and is the head of her company As ever. @meghan
Meghan had wanted to join Harry in public this time around in the UK, but changed her mind because of the security situation. However, she and the children were able to move about without being seen, photographed or chased − casting doubt on Harry’s claims about their safety being in jeopardy.
Since turning 40, Meghan has started over in her native USA. Perhaps the next five years could see the duchess make a return to the UK for another shot at royal life, with Harry and their children.
While it’s unlikely the Sussexes will ever carry out royal duties on behalf of the monarch again, Harry appears determined to have his wife and children with him on UK soil sooner rather than later.
For anyone, turning 40 is a milestone that brings reflection, so too is turning 45: those final five years before the big 5-0.
The past five years saw upheaval and new beginnings for Meghan and of all the royal women subjected to endless commentary and dissection, the Duchess of Sussex has, arguably, notched up more hours of discussion than most.
Last week, speaking at her first public appearance since returning from the UK, Meghan said when times are tough, she reflects on advice Harry once shared with her from his days in the Armed Forces.
Meghan and Prince Harry, seen together in 2017 before their engagement, in a photo shared by the duchess earlier this year. @meghan
“Sometimes on very hard days, I remember he once said, ‘Even if there’s a storm happening, above that storm, the sun’s always shining’,” she said.
“That’s a perspective that only comes when you zoom out a little bit and think, ‘How many things have I gone through that felt hard, and still got through them?’
“It’s so important to maintain perspective that no matter what feels insurmountable, there’s always that sun shining above it.”
Happy 45th birthday, duchess.