Meghan Markle Is Reportedly Done With Joint Appearances, Believes Prince Harry Is 'The Problem'

Meghan Markle is reportedly 'done' with joint public appearances with Prince Harry and now believes she can make more money, and attract less controversy, by stepping out on her own, according to a US-based royal commentator speaking this week about the Sussexes' life in California after leaving the UK in 2020.

The news came after a noticeable shift in how Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been seen in public over the past few years. Since the couple quit frontline royal duties in early 2020 and moved to North America, most of their high‑profile ventures, from their sit‑down interview with Oprah Winfrey to their Netflix projects, have been marketed as a double act.

More recently, though, the pattern has changed. Meghan has been photographed increasingly on solo trips and at individual engagements, while Prince Harry has appeared separately at events including sporting fixtures and charity appearances.

Meghan Markle 'Wants The Spotlight On Her Work'

For starters, the latest claims about Meghan Markle's thinking come from Rob Shuter, a long‑time celebrity and royal commentator, who discussed the couple on Maureen Callahan's The Nerve podcast and in his own Substack newsletter. Citing unnamed sources, Shuter said Meghan has become convinced that she is now the stronger brand in the partnership, and that Prince Harry's presence inevitably drags them back into royal family warfare.

'Meghan has now decided that, my sources are telling me, she now believes that she is more powerful. She's gonna make more money by stepping forward by herself, not with him,' Shuter told the podcast.

He did not offer documents or on‑the‑record confirmation to back up the claim, and the Sussexes' office has not publicly responded. Nothing is confirmed yet, so everything should be taken with a grain of salt. But the comments do tally with the most recent optics.

Only last week, Meghan reportedly undertook a solo trip to Geneva, while Prince Harry remained at their Montecito home. According to Shuter, that was no scheduling accident but part of a deliberate strategy to separate some of their professional work.

In his Substack piece, Shuter said his sources have painted a clear picture of Meghan's frustration with what happens when Prince Harry is at her side. 'Whenever Harry appears beside her, everything becomes about royal drama, and family feuds. Meghan wanted the spotlight on her work, not the chaos surrounding the Royal Family,' he wrote.

The implication is stark. Meghan, by this account, no longer sees herself as half of a neatly balanced partnership, but as the one more likely to attract corporate deals and favourable coverage if she is standing alone.

Meghan Markle, Money And 'The Problem' With Prince Harry

For context, the couple's post‑royal life has been defined as much by what they left behind as what they built. Their decision to step back from the Firm in early 2020 was followed by a series of headline‑grabbing moves: a multi‑million dollar Netflix agreement, the Spotify podcast deal that later collapsed, and Prince Harry's book Spare. Each project brought a new wave of commentary, much of it fixated less on their charitable or creative output and more on the continuing fall‑out with the Royal Family.

Shuter argues that Meghan Markle has quietly concluded that Prince Harry is now central to that problem. 'She's a problem, too. She hasn't quite got to that point, but she knows there's a problem with Harry,' he said on the podcast. It is a notably blunt assessment, even by the standards of royal punditry, and one that puts Prince Harry squarely in the frame as the lightning rod for negative headlines.

The suggestion that Meghan believes she could 'make more money' without Prince Harry is not backed up by contracts or figures in the public domain. There is no breakdown showing which of their joint ventures was more lucrative for which spouse. What can be observed, however, is the gradual uncoupling of their appearances. The Geneva outing follows a pattern of solo engagements that has become harder to dismiss as a coincidence.

At the same time, people close to the couple, and even Shuter himself, stop short of suggesting some kind of personal rupture. The reports repeatedly stress that, privately, Meghan and Prince Harry remain a team. Just days before these latest claims surfaced, the pair marked their eighth wedding anniversary, with Meghan sharing photographs and videos online of cake, gifts, and previously unseen images from their 2018 Windsor wedding. Publicly, at least, they still present as loved‑up and aligned.

The tension, then, seems to sit between brand and marriage. Professionally, Meghan Markle appears to be experimenting with a more individual identity: a woman who wants to be taken seriously for her own projects rather than as one half of the royal rebel duo. Privately, they continue to live, parent, and celebrate together.

It is also worth saying what this story is not. There is no sign, in the material currently available, of a looming separation or formal rebranding that drops Prince Harry from Meghan's ventures altogether. These are inferences drawn from travel choices and the musings of a commentator with unnamed sources. Nor have we heard Meghan's own words on the matter. Without that, the narrative of her being 'done' with Prince Harry's appearances remains an interpretation rather than an established fact.

Yet in the strange ecosystem that surrounds the Sussexes, perception often matters almost as much as reality. If corporate partners, broadcasters, and the public start to believe that Meghan Markle is easier to sell without the baggage of royal feuds, that belief alone could shape the next phase of their lives in California, whether or not Prince Harry really is 'the problem' she supposedly now sees.

IBTimes UK has reached out to Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's reps for comments.