Despite finding her name in the tabloids a lot recently thanks to her dad, Meghan seems to be settling into her new role as Duchess of Sussex just fine.

Unlike her sister-in-law Kate, who didn’t work much before she married Prince William, Meghan has worked almost every day of her adult life, doing everything from waitressing to calligraphy to, most famously, acting.

She made her debut as Duchess of Sussex at a Buckingham Palace garden party celebrating Charles’ 70th. After a secret honeymoon at an undisclosed location, she’s back and ready for action.

The Telegraph reports that:

Just a handful of engagements have been undertaken since then, including a trip to Dublin and a visit to an exhibition about Nelson Mandela’s life (below), with aides keen to calm the feverish interest in Meghan by spacing out her public appearances.

The Duchess’s work in public has, in other words, been relatively quiet this summer. While critics waited for her to put a foot wrong, she has opted for caution and getting to know her newly adopted country. ‘Before starting big projects it’s about taking time to listen and learn and get out and see people,’ an insider says. ‘It’s clear that she’s going to take her time and get things right.’

Nice to see a public figure taking the time to get things right. It’s rare nowadays.

In private, Meghan has been occupied with the royal summer calendar, including a trip to Ascot and Harry’s childhood friend Charlie Van Straubenzee’s wedding.

Running alongside these, a schedule of meetings is happening, with under-the-radar trips around the country to visit charities and to make arrangements for 2019.

Her previous life saw her champion women’s rights, period poverty, clean water and global children’s charity World Vision – her official royal profile, which went live on the Royal family website the day after the wedding, emphasises her identity as a feminist.

Speaking as a biracial American, Meghan has already become a role model for British youngsters who see more of themselves in her than they have in any other royal. For young women too, her issues could not be more of the moment.

She used her first Q&A with Prince Harry in February to reference the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, declaring, ‘Women don’t need to find a voice: they have a voice. People need to be encouraged to listen.’

I’m not a huge fan of the royals, but any feminist is a friend of mine. Let’s hope she keeps it up. In the meantime, she has had to deal with her embarrassing dad (below).

Thomas Markle has gone out of his way to make his daughter’s life difficult. First, they thought that he might have faked his heart surgery to get out of the wedding. Then he hung up on Harry, before declaring to the tabloids that Meghan would be better off if he was dead.

In fact, things became so bad that palace aides started holding crisis meetings to deal with him. At least her mom, Doria, has been cool, and Meghan visits her often.

As for the in-laws:

Meghan has taken pains to praise sister-in-law Kate as ‘wonderful’, cleverly pre-empting any media narrative of the women locked in jealous rivalry. The two were seen chatting happily at Wimbledon.

The Prince of Wales has also found much in common with his daughter-in-law, bonding over their shared love of the arts, and the Queen herself could not have given a clearer indication of her support than inviting the Duchess to accompany her for a day out in Cheshire in June.

Unusually, Meghan was offered a treat no other young royal is known to have so far enjoyed: a sleepover on the royal train en route to the event.

So it’s going well then. Although I won’t lie, being trapped in a train compartment with HRH Liz sounds terrifying.

As for what’s to come, no kids in the foreseeable future. Although Harry said he “hoped it would be very soon”.

So no scandals apart from dad, and an overall A+.

[source:telegraph]