Meghan Markle's revenge as 'she doesn't just want to be Prince Harry's wife'

Meghan Markle has spent the past five years facing accusations of causing the rift between the Sussexes and the royal family, but this week she’s proving she can build her own brand away from her royal connections. A source tells OK! that as the duchess hits our screens in her new big-budget TV series, With Love, Meghan, she’s sending the “perfect” revenge message to critics.

The eight-part show – which Netflix claims “reimagines the genre of lifestyle programming” – features a host of celebrities visiting Meghan, 43, to hear her gardening and cooking tips, and has attracted a huge amount of attention even before it has aired. “Meghan feels this show will be the perfect revenge for all her doubters and haters,” our source claimed. “She is so confident it’s going to do well and she will get the accolades she deserves for it, which will finally shut some people up. She can’t wait."

They continued, “She was a very successful actress and has lots of experience in the TV world. She has always been confident in her own abilities and while her confidence took a knock when she was in the royal family, she is riding high again and she’s so proud of this show.”

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Series guests include her friend and fellow actress Mindy Kaling, who said that Meghan “blew her out of the water” during filming at the stunning location house in California. Other stars include her BFF and Suits co-star Abigail Spencer, her former make-up artist Daniel Martin, and Delfina Blaquier, the wife of Harry’s professional polo playing pal Nacho Figueras.

According to the official promo material, “Whether Meghan is sharing personal tips and tricks, or taking the opportunity to learn something new, it’s a time for connection.”

The announcement of the series, which lands on the streaming service on 15 January, came as a shock to some royal watchers, who expected Meghan to seek privacy after her and Harry’s official exit from senior royal duties. Since she left the UK in 2020, Meghan has been dogged with chatter about her “Duchess Difficult” behaviour, and accused of being responsible for the tensions between Prince Harry, 40, and his family, in particular his older brother Prince William.

But five years on and with her show expected to be one of the streaming service’s biggest launches of the year, Meghan is clearly not willing to be pushed into the background.

“Obviously Meghan and Harry will still do things together when the time is right, but at the moment she is focusing on solo stuff and will fight to prove she is a big star in her own right,” our source claimed.

The eight 30-minute episodes are part of the couple’s ongoing deal with Netflix – which is reportedly worth upwards of $100m (£81m). It follows the release in December of Harry’s documentary Polo, which focused on a group of elite professional players – which he co-produced with Meghan.

If viewing figures for the trailers for the two shows are anything to go by, it’s very obvious who the public want to watch. As of last week, Netflix’s official trailer for Polo had received 197,000 views in over a month, while Meghan’s With Love trailer had already amassed a whopping 1.2 million views in just under a week.

According to our source, the figures are proof that Meghan is a lot more than just “Harry’s wife”. “People tend to underestimate her, but Meghan knows what the audience wants and she is giving them that with this show,” they claimed. “And nobody can criticise her for cashing in on her royal connections because she doesn’t really mention them. She is just determined to show that she can make it on her own without Harry and her titles.

“Some people think she’s only famous because of Harry, but that’s not true and she’s going back to her roots. People always open up to her because she listens and cares. She knows the audience will warm to her if they give the show a chance.”

Harry is expected to make some brief appearances – although Meghan is very much the star of the show. While the pristine kitchen with its marble countertops certainly looks fit for royalty, it’s not the couple’s own house – it’s a rental property in Montecito reportedly worth around $8 million.

It’s also unlikely that we’ll see the children – Prince Archie, five, and three-year-old Princess Lilibet – in the show, as the couple choose to shield them from the spotlight.

According to our source, With Love is just the start of what Meghan has planned for the future, as she looks to build her public profile. “This is just the beginning for the Meghan brand – she’ll be doing more shows and projects by herself. She doesn’t just want to be known as Harry’s wife.”