Meghan Markle's Vogue issue took nine months to create, editor reveals

Rebecca Taylor
·Royal Correspondent
·3-min read
LONDON, ENGLAND - UNDATED: (NEWS EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO SALES, NO COMMERICAL USE. NO MERCHANDISING, ADVERTISING, SOUVENIRS, MEMORABILIA or COLOURABLY SIMILAR. NO CROPPING.) Undated handout photo issued by Kensington Palace of The Duchess of Sussex, Patron of Smart Works, in the workroom of the Smart Works London office. Issue date: Sunday July 28, 2019. (Photo by @SussexRoyal/Kensington Palace via Getty Images)Copyright in the photograph is @SussexRoyal. Publications are asked to credit the photographs to: Copyright: @SussexRoyalNo charge should be made for the supply, release or publication of the photograph. The photograph must not be digitally enhanced, manipulated or modified in any manner or form and must include all of the individuals in the photograph when published. NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Meghan during the preparation of her September issue. (Kensington Palace)

The editor of British Vogue has put the issue edited by Meghan Markle in his top 10 of favourite covers, as he revealed it took his team nine months to put it together.

Meghan worked with Edward Enninful for the September 2019 issue of British Vogue, the first time a guest edited a September magazine.

The duchess, who stops being a full time working royal from 1 April, chose to put women she deemed “Forces for Change” on the front, and including people like Jane Fonda, Greta Thunberg and Jacinda Ardern.

Enninful, 48, ranked his top 10 covers of all time in a piece for Vogue, and chose Meghan’s cover to feature as one.

He said working with her was a “special time” in his editorship.

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He added: “We wanted to focus on unsung heroes, women who were not necessarily the most famous, but were doing what they could to help the world and move things forward in their own way. I knew people would be interested, but I was blown away by its success.

“The team worked on it for nine months along with the Duchess.

“We were so close to it, that it was only when the issue came out and we stood away from it that I realised how needed and powerful it was for now.”

UNSPECIFIED -UNDATED: (NEWS EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO SALES, NO COMMERICAL USE. NO MERCHANDISING, ADVERTISING, SOUVENIRS, MEMORABILIA or COLOURABLY SIMILAR. NO CROPPING.) Undated handout photo issued by Kensington Palace of The cover of British Vogue's September issue, entitled "Forces for Change", which is guest edited by HRH The Duchess of Sussex, Issue date: Sunday July 28, 2019. (Photo by Peter Lindbergh/Kensington Palace via Getty Images)Copyright in the photograph is Peter Lindbergh. Publications are asked to credit the photographs to: Peter LindberghNo charge should be made for the supply, release or publication of the photograph. The photograph must not be digitally enhanced, manipulated or modified in any manner or form and must include all of the individuals in the photograph when published. NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
The cover ran with the headline 'Forces for Change'. (Kensington Palace)

The issue became British Vogue’s fastest selling, and the biggest selling issue of the decade.

Enninful also praised the Vogue team behind it, saying they found energy no matter how exhausted they were.

The duchess’ issue put 15 women on the front who she dubbed “Forces for Change”, including people like Greta Thunberg, Jacinda Ardern and Jane Fonda.

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Of the issue, the duchess said: “Through this lens I hope you’ll feel the strength of the collective in the diverse selection of women chosen for the cover as well as the team of support I called upon within the issue to help bring this to light. I hope readers feel as inspired as I do, by the ‘Forces for Change’ they’ll find within these pages.”

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The issue also inspired Enninful to hold a Force for Change event, which took place at the Southbank Centre in London, and happened to be while Meghan was in the UK.

However she was attending the Mountbatten Festival of Music on the same evening.

She conducted her final engagements as a royal in the UK and flew back to Canada after the Commonwealth Day Service on 9 March.

Read more: Harry and Meghan's Sussex Royal director quits as couple plans non-profit

She and her husband Prince Harry are understood to be taking precautions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

They have used their Instagram page, which is likely to have a new handle in the next week as they relinquish use of the word ‘royal’, to share positive stories and to remind of the advice from the World Health Organisation about reducing the spread.