Inside Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Life After Royal Exit: ‘Their Fairy Tale Never Recovered’

Prince Harry doesn’t appear until the final episode of his wife Meghan Markle’s new Netflix series, With Love, Meghan, when he attends a celebratory brunch she throws. “You did a really good job,” gushes the ever-supportive Duke of Sussex. In the last moments of the show, the couple share a hug. “To love,” Meghan says. “Can’t end on a better note than that.”

The Suits alum may have married a prince, but the pair are still searching for their “happily ever after.” Five years after fleeing the British royal family for sunny California, Meghan, 43, and Harry, 40, have lost much of the goodwill the world felt for them on their 2018 wedding day. They’ve also struggled to find purpose — and a steady way to fund their lush lifestyle in Montecito, California, where they live with their children, Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3. Their continued estrangement from family members still hurts too.

Nobody predicted it would be this difficult. “The world fell in love with the handsome prince and the American actress, that was the fantasy,” notes a friend. “They have tried to pinpoint the moment the public turned on them. The best they can come up with is when they started to speak up for themselves, but the last straw was when Harry left England. It was seen as a betrayal and he broke his grandmother’s heart. That along with Harry’s book and the Oprah interview — their fairy tale never recovered.”

How Meghan Markle’s Handling Negative Reviews of Netflix Show

Meghan’s lifestyle series has been picked up for a second season, but it’s also taken a drubbing in the press. Variety called it “an ego trip.” The U.K.’s Guardian newspaper said it was “pointless” and predicted it would be the couple’s “last TV show.”

Former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown opined that Meghan “has never figured out a convincing persona.” In her newsletter, Tina, a British journalist and longtime royals expert, called the couple foolish to have run away to America. “All Meghan had to do was shut up and wait,” she said. “The moment William ascended to his role as Prince of Wales, there would have been new global gigs and red carpet roll-outs raining down on the Sussexes’ heads. But no. Offered the Commonwealth or Netflix, the Sussexes, with naïve avarice, chose Netflix.”

And then there’s the ratings. While 2022’s Netflix tell-all series, Harry & Meghan, scored 2.1 million viewers in its first week of streaming, With Love, Meghan has drawn less than a quarter of that in approximately the same amount of time. “Harry and Meghan want to be successful on their own terms, but it’s very difficult when the reason anyone cared in the first place was because of Harry’s royal association,” admits the friend.

Meghan has also sent out mixed messages. She has repeatedly rejected royal life, yet she made a big point on a With Love, Meghan episode about using the surname “Sussex,” a title Queen Elizabeth II bestowed on her grandson Harry in 2018. “You keep saying Meghan Markle. You know I’m Sussex now,” she reminded her guest Mindy Kaling.

“They’re trying to distance themselves from the royal family, but it’s impossible when Meghan makes such a big deal about being a Sussex,” says the friend. “You’re either in or you’re out, but she can’t have it both ways.”

With a second season, Meghan hopes to learn from her mistakes and reveal a more relaxed and inviting side of her personality. “She’s trying not to let the negative reviews get to her,” says the friend. “There will be changes to reflect some of the things viewers didn’t relate to.”

Meghan Markle’s Cinderella Story

Despite these growing pains, Meghan and Harry remain devoted to each other and their children. “Harry gave up a lot for love,” says the insider, who confides that Harry’s continued estrangement from his father and brother still hurts him. “Harry has a few regrets about things he said about his family in his book and in interviews,” says the friend. “But at this point, the rift with the royal family is here to stay. There’s no reconciliation in sight.”

Has it all been worth it? Meghan and Harry believe so. “They’ve questioned some of their decisions many times, but they know in their hearts that they belong together,” says the friend. “The one thing they love more than anything is their children. When they feel like times are tough and the world is against them, they look at their children and all the doubts just fade away.”