For some years now, Meghan has leaned rather hard into her status.
asserted
Meghan → lean → status
Consumption has been conspicuous, signalled by the diamonds, the gold accessories, the Cartier watch and so on.
asserted
Consumption → signal → diamonds
Offerings – even of ordinary foodstuffs like jam and tea – have been ‘elevated’ by fancy packaging and sky-high prices.
asserted
Offerings → elevate → packaging
The chocolates in her infamously expensive As Ever advent calendar that went on sale last week cost nearly £6 each and are stamped with gold calligraphy, based on her own handwriting.
And yet, even as pictures emerged of her shrouded in £1,700 white trousers and hanging on to a £5,000-plus Chanel handbag outside Claridge’s in Mayfair on Wednesday, friends were briefing that this is actually a new ‘humble’ version of the Duchess of Sussex.
asserted
this → go → Sussex
Not that you might immediately notice.
uncertain
you → notice → ?
‘She is very conscious about how she wants pictures to land which is why you have barely seen her,’ says a friend.
asserted
friend → want → her
‘She has honestly been trying to keep a low profile.
asserted
She → try → profile
I mean, on one level obviously if you meet someone at Claridge’s it will be noticed, but look at how quiet she has been on social media, how little she has been out.
asserted
she → mean → media
Indeed for a ‘public figure’, which is how her spokesman described her, she has been barely seen since she and Harry arrived by private jet on August 26.
asserted
she → describe → August
Meghan and Malala were spotted in London yesterday after the duchess's return to the UK
The Duchess of Sussex and the Nobel Peace Prize winner first met during Covid, six years ago
And yet now here she is, with a Nobel Peace Prize winner no less, the immaculately philanthropic figure, Malala Yousafzai.
asserted
she → spot → winner
Malala, who was a 15-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl when she was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 after advocating female education, is a charity powerhouse par excellence.
asserted
she → shoot → education
The pair first met during Covid, when Meghan was among the celebrity voices lending their heft to a campaign for female education in 2020.
asserted
Meghan → meet → 2020
Indeed, at times you get the impression that Meghan is a collector of influential female figures.
asserted
Meghan → get → figures
First, there was TV powerhouse Oprah, who was invited to her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry even though the pair had never met.
asserted
pair → be → Harry
Then there was Amal Clooney, the human rights lawyer wife of Hollywood star George, who also found herself in the pews of St George’s Chapel.
asserted
who → be → Chapel
Again, it wasn’t clear if they’d ever met either.
asserted
they → meet → ?
Sources indicate that neither woman is in contact with Meghan now.
asserted
woman → indicate → Meghan
Another high-profile woman whose orbit Meghan entered was feminist icon Gloria Steinem, whose death last month she marked by posting an oddly self-referential tribute in which she shared three pictures of the pair together.
asserted
she → enter → pair
Other women with whom she has ‘palled up’ – philanthropist Nicole Avant, wife of Netflix boss Ted Sarandos, and designer Tracy James, married to former Paramount boss Brian Robbins – also appear to have become distant from her.
asserted
she → pal → her
We shall see what happens with Malala, 29, who looked notably ill at ease alongside the duchess on the pavements of Mayfair.
asserted
who → see → Mayfair
Malala, who is now married and lives in Birmingham, runs the Malala Fund and campaigns to bring education to girls globally.
asserted
who → live → girls
The meeting at Claridge’s, where the two had a £95-a-head afternoon tea, has notably not been shared by Meghan on social media.
asserted
two → have → media
A source close to the duchess said that it was simply a personal meeting and that there was nothing to be briefed out of it.
asserted
it → say → it
The meeting at Claridge’s, where the two had a £95-a-head afternoon tea, has not been shared by Meghan on social media
It is true that there appears to have been efforts by Meghan to have a lower profile since coming back to England.
asserted
It → have → England
She and Harry were pictured together for the first time last week, walking into a Cotswolds pub.
asserted
She → picture → pub
That was five weeks after their jet touched down in Birmingham.
asserted
jet → touch → Birmingham
Meghan has made a smattering of Instagram posts: one, on September 14, showed the Sussexes settling into their rural life, with the children in wellies and a snap of a blazing fire, plus the family fishing at a lake.
asserted
Sussexes → make → lake
A friend said: ‘They are all really happy with how things are going, with the children at school, with where they are living, and with being in Britain.
asserted
they → say → Britain
The place where they are staying is perfectly private and they couldn’t be happier with that.
asserted
they → stay → that
Things are going well with Harry’s family as well, but nothing more to be said there.
asserted
Things → go → family
It’s all good.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
The friend adds: ‘The relocation to the UK is being served with a dose of humble pie though.
asserted
relocation → add → pie
There are genuine concerns from them both about how they are being received, how they want what they are doing to land.
asserted
doing → be → what
‘They have been thinking about it and being very deliberate.
asserted
They → think → it
They think that if they start posting stuff on Instagram it will land badly.
asserted
it → think → Instagram
It is part of a thought-out plan to keep their heads down between now and Christmas, when they will go back to California for the holidays.
asserted
they → think → holidays
They don’t want to shove themselves down people’s throats.’
asserted
They → want → throats
Some self-awareness of the couple’s deep unpopularity seems like a good place to start.
asserted
awareness → seem → place
Approval ratings have plummeted since their Windsor wedding.
asserted
ratings → plummet → wedding
Harry’s memoir Spare, their Oprah interview and the wholesale trashing of the Royal Family and the ‘institution’ in the hit Netflix docu-series Harry & Meghan have turned many against the couple.
asserted
memoir → turn → couple
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
