Meghan Markle has never shied away from talking about how miserable life was for her in the UK.
The Duchess of Sussex was so unhappy while living there with Prince Harry from 2017-2020 that she considered taking her own life, she has said, and she’s railed against members of the royal family and scheming palace courtiers.
Now, with the shock news that the couple will be leaving their $15 million California mansion and returning to the British Isles with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, within mere weeks, Harry is in the unenviable position of trying to keep his wife happy.
But it appears that Markle, 45, may have something to keep her distracted. Page Six this week confirmed the former “Suits” actress is in talks to appear in Season 3 of director Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series “The Gentlemen,” which is filmed in the UK.
“You wait. They will announce the deal and M will say, ‘After being back on set I realized my true passion is and has always been acting,’” said an industry source in the know, who told us that Markle is close to signing the deal.
“I thought Harry was driving all of this and Meghan was like ‘fine, I’ll come along,’” said an insider who knows the couple. “Only to find out that she also has this acting gig lined up!”
(Season 2 of “The Gentlemen” premieres September 3, and Netflix sources say Season 3 is about to be green lit.)
“So on brand,” a London-based socialite who knows the Sussexes said of Markle’s bid to constantly keep reinventing herself and keep herself in the public eye.
And hey, even the royal family apparently knows Markle needs to bring home the bacon.
During the couple’s bombshell Oprah Winrey interview in 2021, Harry said of his wife, “She wasn’t going to get security … members of my family were suggesting that she carries on acting because there’s not enough money to pay for her and all this sort of stuff. Like, there were some real obvious signs before we even got married that this was going to be really hard.”
A Sussex rep declined to comment.
And Markle, we’re told, has grand schemes to double down on her As Ever lifestyle brand in her new home — with insiders already predicting she will use the change of scenery and adjacency to the royal family to hawk her products. “
As Ever launched a new sparkling wine, Napa Valley Reserve Brut, on Friday. She might want to send a couple of bottles to members of the royal family, who will likely need a stiff drink after this week’s shocking announcement.
Indeed, many in royal circles fear what lies ahead with the return of the Sussexes, who have yet to reveal just how long they plan to stay in the UK.
For Hugo Vickers, a royal biographer and friend of the family, Harry, 41, and Markle “will be a distraction with anything they do — even if they don’t intend it to be.”
“They will be in competition with the working members of the royal family, or at least that’s how it will be perceived and that’s how it will be reported. We’re in for such in a grisly time,” Vickers added.
The couple’s move makes things difficult for King Charles and Prince William — who is still not speaking to his younger brother and sister-in-law. His staff have been told not to even discuss Harry or Markle. The distance will be all the more obvious when they are in the same general area rather than 6,000 miles away in California.
“When you have things like Remembrance Sunday or Christmas, they will have to be invited,” said another source of the Sussexes. “They are putting themselves close so it will look bad on the family if they aren’t invited.”
And, Vickers predicted, “I don’t think there will be any reconciliation between William and Harry. William is furious — wouldn’t you be?”
Vickers — who once revealed that Markle was told off by the late Queen Elizabeth II for being rude to the gardeners at Windsor Castle — noted that “there’s no reason to invite [Harry and Meghan and their children] to Remembrance Sunday, for that same reason they won’t be on the balcony at Buckingham Palace for [the annual military parade] Trooping the Colour: They aren’t working royals.”
Both the palace and Sussex reps this week stressed Harry and Markle will not be working royals and will not be allowed to have a half-in/half out approach to royal life.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have found a house in the English countryside to rent during their UK sojourn, while their children are enrolled in schools there, we have confirmed.
Their comeback is all the more bizarre because, up until recently Harry had insisted he would not bring his wife and children to the UK until they were given armed security. They are still waiting for that approval, we are told.
Meanwhile, some royal insiders worry the Sussexes could be gearing up to run a shadow court.
Harry remains passionate about his philanthropy and charity work, which could pit him against his William and his wife, future queen Kate Middleton.
During his heavily publicized July visit to the UK to promote the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham, which included a reunion with King Charles, Harry visited Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital.
He is a natural at meeting the public, just like his mother, Princess Diana, but this is exactly the kind of photo ops William and Kate do all the time.
And if she wants to dip her toe back into society, Markle may find it hard.
“Where in society will she go?” the insider asked. “Does she think she’ll be sitting in the royal box at Wimbledon — like she once did with Kate [Middleton] — or invited to Ascot?”
After everything — including telling Winfrey that Middleton made her cry before her 2018 wedding to Harry, during a rift over flower-girl dresses — sources said Markle will need to tread carefully to avoid being seen as the villain, yet again.
“Kate is more beloved than ever,” a royal insider said of Middleton, who announced in 2025 that she is in remission after a scary cancer battle that saw her shrink to a gaunt size and be forced to take off extended time from royal appearances.
During her last stint in the UK, Markle told Winfrey, she once “left the house twice in four months.”
While Harry has plenty of pals back home, like Mark Dyer, a former Welsh Guards officer and royal equerry, who has been described as a “surrogate father” to the renege royal, as well as childhood friends Charlie van Straubenzee and Archie Manners, Markle has few close girlfriends from her time in the UK.
In October 2019, Markle summed up her struggle as an American in the UK: “I really tried to adopt this British sensibility of a ‘stiff upper lip’—I really tried, but I think that what that does internally is probably really damaging.”
As we have reported, part of the reason for the return is for Harry and his family to spend more time with King Charles, 77, who is being treated for cancer.
The Sussexes, who remain close to both Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, also want to make sure their children get to know their cousins.
“I’ve always been a big believer for Harry to reconcile with his father for two reasons,” said Vickers. “He’s the King’s son, and Charles is old and not very well. And Harry is carrying around a lot of emotional baggage.”
Harry is close to relatives on his mother’s side, the Spencer clan. He took his family to Althorp, the Spencer ancestral home in Northamptonshire, in July to visit his uncle, Charles Spencer, and to see Diana’s grave.
“I do know that Harry is close to Lady Jane Fellowes [Diana’s sister] in particular,” said Vickers. “He came over for her husband, Robert Fellowes’ funeral [in August 2024]. He’s glad he’s got her in his life and he’s lucky to have her, she’s very nice.”
This week, Earl Spencer announced his upcoming book to mark the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death next August called “Swan Song: My Sister Diana.”
While William and Harry joined forces, albeit somewhat frostily, to unveil the bronze statue of their mother, Princess Diana, on July 1, 2021, at Kensington Palace to mark what would have been her 60th birthday, it remains to be seen whether Diana’s memory might just bring them together again.
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