Prince Harry "shoehorned" Meghan Markle into the Royal Family with the idea of having her as a working royal even if she was not suited to the role, a broadcaster has claimed.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex married in May 2018, but at the beginning of 2020 announced they would step back as senior royals, spending their time between the UK and the US. They now live in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Last week, royal historian Hugo Vickers claimed that Meghan "had no intention of pulling her weight" and "had a little plan from the start" as she did not want to be a "hard-working" senior royal. But writer and broadcaster Esther Krakue said Meghan was probably not "well prepared" for the role she would undertake.
Speaking on Sky News Australia, she said: "The reason why these claims have come up is because the King and Princess Kate are out of action. It really calls into question how Meghan could have picked up some of the slack if she was still a working royal.
"The reality is she was not necessarily the best suited to life in the royal family, and I don't blame her for that. I don't think she was well prepared for the role she would undertake and by extension whether she would even have wanted to take that role.
"One of the advantages that Kate had was that she was with William for almost a decade before they got married and she assumed the roles she had. Harry effectively shoehorned Meghan into the institution.
"And it wasn't a matter of him marrying her and they were creating a life together. He married her with the intention of also having her as a working royal. He could have married her and stepped back, but he didn't.
"I suspect that Meghan didn't have the temperament to do it. I don't think she was well suited for the role. I don't think she would have been interested in playing second fiddle to the Waleses. I don't think she would have liked the regimented, strict lifestyle of a working royal."
She added: "And I think she might have had her own intentions, with the exposure and the platform she had as a duchess being very handy, and will always be handy - she will always get attention now. One of the things that was missing was duty. Did she ever show a sense of duty? Given the length of time she and Harry stayed as working royals and how they left acrimoniously, everything that's followed - I think the answer is no."
Ms Krakue also addressed rumours of Meghan's return to the TV show Suits, which she was on for seven years, and said she would probably prefer pursing her own projects instead. She said: "This is someone who, it was rumoured, had political ambitions. So you never really know what to expect from the couple."
It has also been claimed that Meghan is writing a memoir which could come out in 2025. The Duchess of Sussex, 42, is rumoured to be considering putting pen to paper for a tell-all memoir. The rumours started swirling last year after her husband released his book Spare at the start of 2023.
The couple have a book deal with Penguin Random House, which will see the couple release four books as part of their contract. Meghan has already written The Bench which came out in June 2021, and Prince Harry has already penned his memoir Spare. The couple is also rumoured to be working on a third book together, a wellness book, with the fourth rumoured to be a memoir by Meghan - although this has not been confirmed.
And amid the rumours that claim Meghan could be putting pen to paper to pen a book, there are also many rumours that claim the former actress could be making a return to her acting roots - although, a PR expert has now said she thinks this is "unlikely".
"I believe it's unlikely Meghan will return to acting in 2024 unless the role is as a lead in a Hollywood movie that could be an awards contender," Lynn Carratt from Press Box PR told The Mirror during an exclusive chat.
She said: "I'm sure she enjoyed her time in Suits, she stayed in the show for seven seasons, but life has moved on for her. And while she is tipped to take on a new role in a spin-off of the legal drama written by Suits creator Aaron Korsh, it's unlikely she'll go back."
