Meghan Markle 'Dropped Out Of Conversation' In US Popularity Blow As Americans Pivot To Kate Middleton: Report

Meghan Markle has 'dropped out of the conversation' in the United States as royal watchers and industry insiders increasingly focus on Princess Kate and King Charles's health battles, a friend and adviser to the Royal Family has claimed in comments published on Friday in London.

For context, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have lived in Montecito, California, since 2020, the year they stepped down as working royals and began repositioning themselves as global celebrity philanthropists. In that time, the couple has launched a flurry of high-profile projects: Harry's memoir, the couple's Netflix documentaries and interview specials, and, most recently, Meghan's lifestyle venture As Ever, described in its own marketing as 'more than a brand, it's a love language'.

None of it, one veteran royal insider suggests, has translated into the type of enduring stateside buzz the Sussexes appeared to be banking on.

Speaking to The Times, as reported by Express UK, the unnamed friend of the Royal Family argued that the couple's experiment in life after the monarchy has yet to land with the American public. 'What they haven't been able to do is create a public presence that's respected and popular,' the source said, adding that during a recent trip to Los Angeles, they were struck by how little the Sussexes featured in day‑to‑day Hollywood conversations.

'I was in LA recently and was struck by how they're not the topic of conversation,' the insider told the paper. 'Everyone wanted to know about the King and Kate's health. Harry and Meghan have dropped out of the conversation.'

Those remarks, unflattering as they are for Meghan Markle, do come from a single, unnamed source rather than formal polling, so they should be treated with caution. There is no hard data in the report measuring US popularity or comparing the duchess directly with the Princess of Wales. Still, the claim does chime with a clear reality: when senior royals fall ill, the public mood tends to recalibrate around them, and that includes audiences far beyond Britain.

Kate's Illness Reframes Royal Story In US Meghan Markle Once Dominated

The news came after a bruising period for the Royal Family that has pushed health, rather than celebrity, to the centre of the royal narrative.

Princess Kate underwent major abdominal surgery in January 2024 and spent two weeks in the London Clinic. In March, she confirmed in a carefully filmed video message that she had been diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing preventative chemotherapy. Her announcement, delivered directly to the camera, reached audiences worldwide and immediately became the dominant royal story.

That revelation followed another: King Charles had been diagnosed with a form of cancer a month earlier. The King temporarily stepped back from public duties, returning to engagements in late April. For many observers, the double blow recast the Windsors not as a glamorous soap opera but as a family grappling, in public, with private vulnerability.

In the US, where royal intrigue is usually filtered through streaming dramas and glossy magazine spreads, that shift appears to have pulled focus away from Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's ongoing rebrand. While the couple's supporters argue they were the ones who made the Firm's internal struggles visible, the sympathy narrative in 2024 has undeniably settled around the monarch and the future queen.

Prince Harry's own role in this moment has been fleeting. He flew back to London in February 2024 to see his father after the King's diagnosis, reportedly spending 45 minutes with him at Clarence House before returning to California the next day. According to the same report, he has not seen Princess Kate since attending the King's Coronation in May 2023, and he and Meghan are not currently on speaking terms with the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Meghan Markle Tries To Build New Brand As Sister‑In‑Law Commands Spotlight

Against that backdrop, Meghan Markle has been working to reassert herself, not as a duchess, but as a lifestyle and self‑help figure.

Her new venture, As Ever, leans heavily into aspirational wellness language, framed more like a personal creed than a conventional product line. Away from Montecito, she has taken her message on the road. On Friday, she appeared at a 'girls' weekend' retreat in Sydney, speaking on the final day of a trip to Australia with Prince Harry.

The event, Her Best Life, was held at the five‑star InterContinental Coogee Beach hotel and pitched itself online as 'an unforgettable weekend for women ready to reconnect, recharge and have some serious fun.' It was not a budget affair. Standard tickets cost around £1,400, while VIP passes were priced at £1,670 and included a group table photograph with the Duchess of Sussex.

Security at the hotel was extensive, with media access tightly controlled and staff gathering in reception as guests arrived for the closed‑door sessions. That level of protection underlined that Meghan Markle remains a high‑value draw and a potential security risk. It also reinforced a paradox at the heart of her current status. She is still famous enough to warrant a ring of minders and a premium ticket price, yet, if the royal adviser is to be believed, no longer the unavoidable talking point she once was.

None of this means Meghan and Prince Harry have vanished from American life. Their names still anchor headlines, social feeds and, not incidentally, multi‑million‑dollar contracts. But the royal story Americans are leaning into now is a quieter, more traditional one, centred on a King back at work and a future Queen consort navigating cancer treatment in front of the world.