Meghan lamented she had “given up her entire life” for the Royal Family, according to the authors of the newly-released biography Finding Freedom. However, this claim has been slapped down by US royal historian Marlene Koenig, who argued Meghan had a lot to gain by becoming the Duchess of Sussex.
In a review of the book by royal reporters Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, Ms Koenig wrote: “It is a bit selfish for Meghan to say she gave everything up when she married Harry.
“No, you gained the opportunity to do so many more things within the context of being royal.”
Meghan told a close friend in March, as she was preparing to step down as senior royal with her husband, it was “very sad” things did not work out for her, according to Mr Scobie and Ms Durand.
They wrote: “The media speculated that Meghan was behind the decision for the couple to step back, but few knew how much she sacrificed to try and make it work.
The couple, as thoroughly described in Finding Freedom, had met in the summer of 2016 and immediately hit it off.
Ahead of her royal wedding, Meghan shut down all her personal social media accounts, in which she had hinted at her blossoming romance with the prince as well as shared glimpses of her charitable efforts and work as an actress.
Meghan, who moved from Canada to the UK in autumn 2017, also said goodbye to her successful lifestyle blog The Tig a few months before her nuptials.
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Moreover, she ended her acting career, leaving legal drama Suits at the end of its sixth season in 2017.
Ahead of being given the title of Duchess by the Queen, Meghan had already been introduced into the Royal Foundation, the platform used by Harry and Prince William since 2009 to carry out their charitable work.
The Duchess, who expressed her desire to hit the ground running, carried out her first official royal visit three months before her wedding.
In February 2018, Meghan and Harry visited local entrepreneurs and young people in Edinburgh as well as cheerful well-wishers who gathered to catch a glimpse of the new addition to the Royal Family.
As Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan attended their first official engagement just a few days after the wedding, on May 22.
Ms Koenig said the Duchess has always been successful during her visits and tours.
She wrote in her book review: “I have said several times that Meghan aced her engagements.
“She was an asset whose soft power could have been harnessed and used, again within the context of being royal.”
But, despite her natural predisposition to engagements and public speaking, Ms Koenig believes Meghan would have benefited from a few more months as royal fiancée, during which Harry could have shown her exactly what being a royal meant.
She wrote: “Harry was the one who was looking for an out from being a working, first-string royal.
“He is well aware of his popularity and he was keen to embrace a philanthropic life, which, I must add, is normal for a royal.
“But I also think it becomes apparent in this book that Harry was the bull in the china shop.
“He met a lovely well-educated woman, three years his senior, and quickly fell in love.
“Hindsight being 20/20, Harry should have been circumspect and let Meghan learn about what her royal role would be.”
