‘Different vibe’: US paparazzo shares massive new Meghan Markle claim

The Duchess of Sussex has been seriously “humbled”, according to a new report, as she and Prince Harry face a Hollywood cold shoulder.

COMMENT

Do you think Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh might be a tad, secretly, in his heart of hearts, relieved?

For decade upon decade, the late Queen’s fourth child was the human equivalent of the semicolon – underappreciated, unused and often forgotten.

And he was also the constitutionally irrelevant genetic footnote who was responsible for the most mortifying, toe-curling flop in modern royal history aside from that one time Princess Margaret put out her beat poetry on vinyl. (Okay, that was wishful thinking).

In 1987, the duke somehow convinced his steady-as-she-goes mother, Her late Majesty, to green light three of her children taking part in It’s A Royal Knockout, a dignity-free, costumed TV game show so naff it should be studied by science.

The end result: a royal disaster not seen on this scale since Queen Mary lost Calais to the French. Merde.

That is, until recent times, with the advent of Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of

Sussex’s Big American Adventure.

The Sussexes’ decision to leave the UK has come at a cost. Picture: Matt Dunham/Pool/AFP

They have crossed an ocean, forded the Pacific Coast Highway and braved the Los Angeles traffic in their quest to make it, a quest that right now is looking like it’s going about as well as Harold Godwinson holding off the Norman Conquest.

Harold, “Harold” and Meghan have all given it their darnedest, but things have not exactly gone their way.

Which might explain why, these days, Meghan is reportedly “humbled” and has been “brought down a peg”.

See, adding to the general feel of the tide turning against the Sussexes has been the fact the family has been papped with increasing frequency lately, a situation which bodes badly for the privacy-loving family.

The most recent set of images, taken by photographer Jill Ishkanian, show the duchess enjoying a trip to a local farmers’ market, the most noteworthy detail being that she was accompanied by her beagle Guy, despite dogs reportedly not being allowed.

Ishkanian has now turned up in Newsweek to share her insights into the duchess, claiming that something, somewhere, somehow has changed with the former Suits actress.

“This would be the fourth time [photographing Meghan] since 2021 and I had a different vibe from her this time,” she told Newsweek’s Jack Royston.

“When you do this kind of work you become very intuitive.

The pair have been hit by setback after setback. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

“The way she looked at me, it was just different than the other times. She just seemed like she’d been humbled a bit or brought down a peg a bit.”

And that’s a comment worth dwelling on for a moment – just how the Sussexes’ recent travails might have impacted them.

So far, every one of Harry and Meghan’s red-letter projects, including her podcast series Archetypes, their Netflix series and his memoir Spare, have been successful – but they have all also come with some sort of “but”.

Archetypes debuted at number one – but subsequent weekly episodes slipped further and further down the charts and in June it was announced that the company and the Sussexes were parting ways.

(Added to which reports that Harry had pitched the idea of interviewing a homicidal dictator who would make Stalin proud (Vladimir Putin) and a bankrupt former reality star who had a go at his very own coup (Donald Trump), which only made him look like a ding dong).

The couple’s Harry & Meghan series was hugely successful, racking up more than 81.55 viewing hours – but it still did not manage to take out the number one spot as the most watched doco on the platform. (That prize goes to The Tinder Swindler).

And even with these sorts of numbers, it might not be enough to keep their Netflix deal alive – The Wall Street Journal has reported that the company will not renew the duo’s current contract when it is up in 2025.

The Duchess of Sussex has reportedly been "humbled".

The family are being papped more and more often. Picture: rosewoodmiramarbeach/Instagram

Nor has the show garnered much of a critical reception in Hollywood, missing out on an Emmy nomination and only managing to get one from the B-list Hollywood Critics Awards.

Spare sold like the clappers and holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest selling non-

fiction book of all time – but it has not brought vast swathes of people over to Team Sussex and it failed to move the dial of public sympathy in favour of the royal renegades.

Meanwhile, the couple’s talents, skills and creativity have come under fire from big names in the entertainment game, such as Spotify’s head of podcast innovation and monetisation Bill Simmons (“f***ing grifters”) and United Talent Agency CEO’s Jermery Zimmer (Meghan

does not “necessarily [have] any kind of talent”).

For every two steps forward, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex seem to take one, two or three back. It has been a reputational and professional slog and it would make complete sense if it had been a deeply personal and affecting one too.

What must have the last couple of months been like inside the Breakaway State of Sussex?

Back in 2020, Harry and Meghan staked their futures and fortunes on being able to plant themselves in the US and to independently build successful commercial and philanthropic careers. Simultaneously too.

Chalk it all up as bravery or egotism (or maybe even both at the same time), but they put all their chips on themselves, doubled down and bet the house.

Today, that is a gamble that has only partially paid off, with their successes having been regularly tempered by their failures.

(All of this, it should be noted, they have done while being the parents of two wee kids and Meghan having suffered a miscarriage).

What I wonder is, if the Sussexes could go back to those feverish last days of 2019 and first ones of 2020, would they make the same extreme – and it could be argued, emotional – decision to abscond? If they had known that what looked like a clear, straightforward path to success and Diana-like levels of reverence was instead going to be an uphill battle, would they have still quit?

Here’s another insight from photographer Ishkanian.

Talking about the duke and duchess taking daughter Princess Lilibet to a watch the Fourth of July parade in their hometown, she said: “When I saw that Meghan and Harry went out there and supported the fire trucks going by, I thought ‘I’ve got to hand it to them, that is the first celebrity that has ever done that’.”

And of the former actress’ market outing, Ishkanian revealed, “She was so nice to those vendors, I am telling you, I heard her being so nice. She smiled and it was just a different thing than I’ve seen before”.

Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.

Originally published as ‘Different vibe’: US paparazzo shares massive new Meghan Markle claim