Meghan Markle’s photo with Jeff Bezos and Kris Jenner should scare royal family

It seems like an innocent enough snap of some of Hollywood’s elite but the inclusion of Meghan Markle should scare the royals.

COMMENT

If the Men in Grey at Buckingham Palace are not already religiously reading the gossip-stuffed pages of the Daily Mail, Page Six and People every day, if these titles are not already an essential part of their daily media diet alongside the Financial Times, Private Eye, and every back issue of Horse and Hound then now’s the time to start chaps.

Not, obviously, because they might be in any way even mildly interested in the Ozempic-thinned, over-tanned goings-on, but because of the seemingly overnight and energetic reintroduction of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex into the Hollywood bloodstream.

The duchess it would seem is done: Done staying at home in cashmere hausfrau mode; done daydreaming about sharing Rumi quotes on Instagram; and done keeping her entrepreneurial yearnings in check.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Beyonce concert. Picture: X – formerly known as Twitter

The last week has seen the 42-year-old make a splashy, glittery return to the spotlight, popping up for not one but two nights of the Los Angeles leg of Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour. First, she brought along plus one Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, possibly wearing a woman’s blazer. Days later she was back, this time appearing alongside Jeff Bezos, Kris Jenner, Netflix impresario Ted Sarandos and posing with Kelly Rowland and Kerry Washington.

Kerry Washington, Kelly Rowland and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour concert, at the SoFi Stadium in LA. Picture: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood

Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, Kris Jenner, Meghan Markle at Beyonce concert. Picture: Twitter

The message would only have been more transparent if Meghan had considered asking go-to Sussex couturier Christian Dior to bedazzle her a T-shirt with “I’m back bitches.” (What? You don’t have a Parisian atelier on speed dial to whip you up those special numbers?)

For years now, the Sussexes have been like the Meerkats of Montecito – staying largely out of view only to semi-regularly pop up to rake The Firm over the coals. However, three ultra high-profile outings in nearly as many days would seem to signal that we are sailing into uncharted waters.

Maybe Harry and Meghan simply feel like they have finally vented their spleens enough or maybe they are just ready to step into their power or maybe they are simply sick of spending their Saturday nights playing parcheesi with their bodyguards and waiting for an apology fruit basket to arrive from Clarence House.

Whatever the reason, the duke and duchess are clearly entering a new phase of their post-Megxit lives and every red carpet, awards shows and outpost of Nobu better watch out: The Sussexes are in town.

Meghan mingled with Hollywood royalty including, from left, Khloe Kardashian, Penelope Disick, Kim Kardashian, North West, Kris Jenner, Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos at Beyonce’s concert in LA. Picture: Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Parkwood

And while the Golden Globes wranglers and maitre d’s of California are busy readying themselves for this, back in London, those courtiers and aides and sorts paid to fret about the future of Crown Inc should be preparing too.

The Sussexes, thus far, have largely followed a predictable-ish trajectory – give a startling interview dragging royal skeletons out of mahogany closets, paint themselves as victims, claim the moral high ground and then largely disappear back behind the high, high gates of their $20 million compound to wait for a grovelling Palace apology call that has never come. And rinse and repeat.

Think of what has come to pass as Sussex flare-ups, a sore for which there is so far no medicinal cream. (Clinical trials continue.)

Until now. Because what comes next could see the couple, especially Meghan, become a firmly established, perma-presence as they attempt to inch their way up the greasy poles of the entertainment and business worlds.

This week, a source close to the Sussexes told Telegraph’s Victoria Ward that they are “done with their former lives.

“They’re not talking about family. There’s no expectation that the family’s going to show up or acknowledge it or that anybody wants to see him. It’s over,” the source said.

“They are both working on their own things … Everybody understands that they’re not just going to stand still.”

Prince Harry at Inter Miami vs. LAFC football match. Picture: Apple TV

What those “things” are remains more carefully shrouded in secrecy than the location of Ark of the Covenant or Kris Jenner’s real birth certificate.

The duchess is on the cusp of unleashing some big exciting digital project, with a source telling Ward that while it’s not akin to Gwyneth Paltrow’s $392 million Goop empire, it is “genuine to who she is”.

Whatever Meghan.com (or whatever it is called) turns out to be, the overarching ambitions seems clear – to dramatically grow the duchess’s sphere of influence and cultural footprint while likely making the Sussexes some lovely money along the way.

Whatever this project turns out to be, it looks set to be a far cry from The Tig, Meghan’s formulaic blog of yore that she ran solo.

For one thing, she has Ari Emanuel of WME in her corner, one of the most powerful figures in La La Land along with venture capitalist Adam Lilling. (Lilling was photographed sitting with Harry in the stands at the Inter Miami versus Los Angeles FC game this week.)

Prince Harry at a match between Inter Miami CF and Los Angeles Football Club. Picture: Harry How / Getty Images North America / Getty Images via AFP

Ticking along with all of this is the mother-of-two’s much mooted return to Instagram with her @Meghan account already having more than 126,000 followers.

With the dawning of the age of Meghan set for any day now – with her likely soon presiding over an Instagram fiefdom with more members than small nation states and with her ambitions no longer held in any way in check – it is this that should have Buckingham Palace on edge.

There is also the great unknowable here of just what she might say or do. The Sussexes’ attempts to hold the royal family to account for their treatment of the duke and duchess have been about as successful as Queen Camilla’s to do Dry July.

If the last bridge has been burned, if their last hope of some sort of regal mea culpa is gone, if the 42-year-old doesn’t have to worry about hurt feelings or rocking the boat, then courtiers should consider setting their phasers to permanently chagrined. Harry and Meghan can be as aggravating of thorns in the side of the monarchy as they fancy, being as political, as outspoken and as authentic as they want in the name of building some sort of US commercial empire.

My money is on this week marking an inflection point in the long and winding tale of the duke and duchess, after which you would be hard-pressed to find a single reason why they should continue to hold themselves back in any way.

Fundamentally, what that photo of Meghan and Jeff Bezos et al really signals is that the Sussexes are coming – coming for Hollywood, coming for social media and coming to play in the big leagues.

It’s entirely apocryphal that Paul Revere went haring off yelling “the British are coming!” during the War of Independence but now, nearly 250 years later, maybe someone needs to race around Los Angeles on horseback – and the Buckingham Palace forecourt – doing some similar alarm-raising. The Sussexes are coming. Here’s hoping they do a hell of a lot better than Harry’s forebear George III.

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 Meghan Markle’s photo with Jeff Bezos and Kris Jenner should scare royal family