It was set to be the interview of the decade.
A year ago, more than 12 million people across the UK and 17 million in the US, tuned in to watch what many were predicting as the beginning of the end of the monarchy.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, in a sit-down tell-all with none other than Oprah herself. The drama wrote itself. The teaser trailer alone had Twitter questioning whether Buckingham Palace should be repurposed as a Lidl or Aldi once the royals were hounded out.
Initially, the response was seismic. Shocking claims of racism – including the infamous allegation that a member of the royal family had questioned what colour baby Archie’s skin would be – and revelations about Meghan’s suicidal thoughts rocked the British and American public alike. Damning headline after damning headline depicted a palace in crisis, while amateur sleuths set about trying to detect the mystery ‘racist’ royal. The Mirror’s front page dubbed it the worst royal crisis in 85 years.
But a year on, quite apart from the undoubtedly iconic memes (“Were you silent, or were you SILENCED?”) and (perhaps even more iconic) stripping of Piers Morgan’s Good Morning Britain job, it’s not entirely clear what the repercussions of the interview actually were. And, more than that, what have Meghan and Harry been doing since?
The main event in the Sussexes lives has, of course, been the birth of their second child, Lilibet, on June 4 2021 (the Queen still hasn’t met her namesake, and it’s unclear whether they will be attending her Platinum Jubilee celebrations).
Just days after 7lb 11oz ‘Lili’ was born in Santa Barbara, Meghan released her children’s book The Bench, inspired by a Father’s Day poem she wrote for Harry. It became a New York Times bestseller within a week of release.
The couple have also taken part in their fair share of activism. On her 40th birthday on August 4, Meghan filmed a video with US actress Melissa McCarthy to launch her 40x40 mentorship campaign, raising awareness about the women globally who have lost their jobs as a result of Covid.
Meghan also appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show, where she took part in one of the chatshow’s famous skits. In the hidden camera prank, Meghan drank from a baby’s bottle, ate like a chipmunk and sang a song about kittens.
Days later, the couple participated in Global Citizen Live, a star-studded 24-hour event broadcast live from Central Park, aimed at promoting equal access to the Covid vaccine.
And in February this year, in his role as chief impact officer of mental wellness app Better Up, Harry opened up about how he sets aside about 45 minutes every morning to “build resilience” and meditate. He admitted to “burning the candle at both ends”, before he learnt how to embrace what he described as “inner work”.
Then, of course, there have been the lawsuits.
The couple have been embroiled in various legal wranglings with the press, including the Daily Mail, the Sun and the BBC, and, as of February this year, the Home Office. Harry is suing the Government department over the loss of his and Meghan’s police protection, which he has offered to pay for.
And part of the reason so little has been seen of the couple over the last year is because they are also still thought to be in a legal dispute with a paparazzi agency over pictures taken in their previous Beverly Hills home.
But, while any glimpse of the Sussexes and baby Sussexes will still generate clicks and coos, it certainly feels like some of the initial obsession has slowly petered out. Perhaps it is the fact that some of their much-hyped forays into the entertainment world – such as their multi-million dollar Netflix and Spotify deals – haven’t really amounted to much yet.
Or maybe it’s simply the fact that the world has changed unimaginably since March 2021. What with war raging in Europe and a cost of living crisis the likes of which we haven’t seen for decades, we might all just have more important things to be worrying about.
Whatever the answer, there was a time when Meghan sneezing would have generated adulation and outrage in equal measure. But it seems that the world, at least for the moment, has moved on.
