The Sussex saga rolls on: so what’s next for Meghan and Harry?

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On Sunday, Meghan’s 43rd birthday, a rare joint interview was broadcast on US network CBS in which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex raised awareness of a new campaign. The Parents’ Network looks to help parents whose children have been affected by harmful online content and bullying and stop it happening to other young people.
On a sunny veranda in Santa Barbara, Harry and Meghan hugged the parents who had come together for the occasion. A distressed US flag was hanging in a frame on the back wall as the couple greeted guests along with long-time aide James Holt, a former Liberal Democrat press officer who is now executive director of Archewell Foundation, the Sussex’s non-profit arm.
Meghan even had a bear hug for the news anchor Jane Pauley, who in the past revealed her own mental health battle with bipolar disorder. “I am so, so happy you’re here,” Meghan said. “Thank you.”
What followed was one of the most revealing interviews since Meghan and Harry spoke to Oprah Winfrey in 2021 and the pair drew on some of the same themes. Viewers tuning in on Sunday were even shown a clip of the interview three years ago in which Meghan revealed suicidal thoughts while pregnant with their son Archie, telling Oprah: “I just didn’t want to be alive any more.”
While Pauley, 73, acknowledged that Meghan found the subject “uncomfortable”, the broadcaster spelt it out for her audience: “The connection that you have with people is that they know that you had suffered too, personally. Contemplating killing yourself is what suicidal ideation was.”
Rather than the tearful duchess in the Oprah interview, Meghan was more composed. Yes, she could see that there was a “through-line” between her social media campaign and her mental health struggles. Talking about her “pain and trauma”, she said without really talking about it, was all part of her “healing journey”.
Meghan went on: “I do think that I would never want someone else to feel that way and I would never want someone else to be making those sort of plans and I would never want someone else to not be believed.
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“So, if me voicing what I have overcome will save someone or encourage someone in their life to really genuinely check in on them and not assume that the appearance is good so everything’s OK, then that’s worth it. I’ll take a hit for that.”
Harry, meanwhile, was certainly not going to take a hit for cutting into Meghan’s airtime. For the duke, children’s access to harmful content online was “terrifying” and “one of the scariest things”.
Wearing the smartest Californian outfit of suit but no tie paired with summer loafers, he said: “We always talk about in the olden days if your kids were under your roof you knew what they were up to. At least they were safe, right? And now they could be in the next door room on a tablet or on a phone and can be going down these rabbit holes and before you know it within 24 hours they could be taking their life.”
Fortunately some of the broadcast was given over to those with bigger crosses to bear; the parents whose children have taken their lives after being exposed to bullying or harmful messages online. Take Chris and Donna Dawley, whose son CJ killed himself aged 17 after suffering depression linked to his smartphone addiction.
A loving family was sadly not enough to protect him from the online world. Donna, sitting next to Meghan, spoke of the shock of losing her boy, while Chris shut his eyes with the pain of it all. Donna said: “He had a beautiful car, he worked. He had a job he liked. He still had it in his hand. The phone. That’s how addicted he was. He couldn’t even kill himself without posting about it first.”
It’s impossible not to be moved by the family’s grief and no one could argue against the need for greater checks and balances on the social media giants who push such harmful content. Yet it was unclear what specific changes the Sussexes wanted to see. How should the companies make their platforms safer? Should there be an age limit for children using smartphones? Are there practical steps parents can take to keep their children safe online, or any signs of depression to which they should be alert?
There’s also the tricky issue of Meghan and Harry discussing a subject that touches on family relationships when the situation in their family remains so strained. As they say on Facebook: it’s complicated. Meghan’s 80-year-old father, Thomas Markle, is in ill health. Living in Mexico in modest circumstances he has never met his son-in-law Harry, let alone his two royal grandchildren.
On Harry’s side, relations seem to be getting worse rather than better. The King is said to wave courtiers away when they tell him that his younger son has called. Charles did telephone Harry this year to tell him that he had cancer, but when a concerned Harry flew straight to Britain their reunion meeting lasted less than an hour.
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When Harry returned to London this year to mark the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games, his Paralympic sporting competition for wounded veterans, the King could not find any time to meet his son. Within the Palace, sources point out that the situation is not so simple. As far as they were concerned, Harry had not been at all clear about his schedule. Harry would no doubt argue otherwise.
What’s clear is that the duke has few allies within the royal family. His stepmother, the Queen, is hardly going to advocate for him after he painted her as “dangerous” in an interview to plug his autobiography, Spare.
Meanwhile, his brother, William, doesn’t speak to Harry and shows no intention of so doing. The Princess of Wales, who might conceivably have acted as a bridge between the brothers a few years ago, has also found herself in the Sussex firing line.
In the latest interview on Sunday, Meghan revealed that she had barely “scraped the surface” when it came to her experience of suicidal thoughts. Subtext: there’s plenty more where this came from.
Similarly, when Harry was promoting his autobiography he told the Telegraph that there were an additional 400 pages to the book which had been cut out. He said: “It could have been two books, put it that way.”
It is the ever-present threat that hangs over the King’s nascent reign. It is hardly something that Charles wishes to hear while he recovers from cancer. Increasingly, it is not something the American public want to hear, either. An article in the Spectator World magazine last month said: “Alas, Harry has become as unloved a figure in the United States as he is in Britain.”
The timing of the interview, released on Meghan’s birthday, is interesting. Two years ago on Meghan’s 41st birthday, William and Kate posted a message on social media saying: “Wishing a happy birthday to The Duchess of Sussex!” The King, then Prince of Wales, issued a similar message with a picture of Meghan in a white outfit and hat taken during the late Queen’s platinum jubilee celebrations. But last year, after Harry’s autobiography, no such greeting was forthcoming. This year? More tumbleweed.
There was, however, something doing the rounds on social media to mark Meghan’s birthday. It was an old clip in which a much younger, pre-Duchess Meghan is seen talking to a chef on a television cooking show.
Wearing a casual vest top the actress seems carefree and charming. She says: “For my birthday, since I don’t have a sweet tooth, I always have French fries for breakfast with a little candle in them.” Perhaps she’ll serve some up for Harry when he turns 40 next month. However, he’ll have to wait and see whether the King or the Prince of Wales offer any public congratulations on the duke’s milestone.
So, what next for the Sussexes? More “engagement” is what. They have an official tour to Colombia coming up after accepting an invitation from the country’s vice-president, Francia Márquez. Some have pointed out that it is an interesting destination for a couple with so many security concerns.
While dates have yet to be confirmed, an official press release from the Colombian government said that the couple’s visit would precede the global Ending Violence Against Children conference in November, adding that the couple would look at creating safer physical and digital spaces for children.
It added that the Sussexes would be visiting “Bogota, as well as the Caribbean and Pacific regions of Cartagena and Cali” for “meaningful interactions” with locals. Then there is the Invictus Games in Whistler, Canada, for Harry to look forward to next year and plans for the sporting tournament to come to Birmingham in 2027.
For Meghan, there’s her new brand American Riviera Orchard, which launched on social media with a teaser video of her stirring a pot in a kitchen on Instagram and then appearing in a ballgown. It’s still not clear what the business will sell or how it will do it. So far she seems to have produced a few pots of jam and some dog biscuits that she has gifted to friends who then publicised it on social media.
Her latest interview is far more interesting because it leaves the door wide open for further revelations. If Meghan is ever inclined to scrape a little further below the surface, the duchess-in-exile might decide to look more closely at her time at the palace. If she does fancy a dig, there would be no end of publishers willing to offer exorbitant sums for her findings.