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The Duchess of Sussex is a big fan of cringey puns. And on her With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration special — her take on Christmas traditions, recipes and crafts — Meghan Markle dropped some doozies. While making the dough for fancy cheese puffs she quipped, “This feels like fondue. You’ve never heard anyone say fon-don’t.” A vegetable joke came later while she prepped Christmas Eve dishes: “Beets, beets, beets. Drop that beet.”
Her wordplay was nothing compared to what some viewers had to say about her latest Netflix offering. In what has become a familiar pattern for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex — where even well-intentioned efforts seem to spark intense reactions — the special faced swift backlash as it was branded “insipid” by The Independent and slammed for its “joyless and fake” tone by The Telegraph. One critic even called the 44-year-old “the last person I’d want to spend Christmas with.” Meghan is “disappointed,” a source tells Star. “But she’s not entirely shocked. She figures critics will always find a way to pick on her and she just needs to rise above it and keep doing her thing.”
As the duchess weathered the criticism, husband Prince Harry secured a significant win. Seven months after losing a years long court battle to restore his state-funded security while in the U.K., it emerged that the British government has agreed to conduct a full threat assessment and review of his safety needs — potentially allowing the 41-year-old, Meghan and their children, Archie, 6, and Lilibet, 4, to visit his native England safely and, more crucially, bringing Harry one step closer to reconciling with the royal family. “Harry is thrilled,” says the source. “He’s confident it will improve his relationship with his father,” cancer-stricken King Charles III, 77, with whom Harry has been cautiously rebuilding his relationship since a face-to-face meeting in September. “That is absolutely his goal heading into 2026.”
And therein lies the latest tension. “For Meghan, this is not good news,” says the source. While the former Suits star supports Harry healing with his father, she remains skeptical that true peace is possible following their move to California nearly six years ago. The pair claimed Harry’s royal relatives had sanctioned palace courtiers to fuel attacks on them in the British press and failed to protect Meghan from racist attacks. She hasn’t returned to the U.K. since Queen Elizabeth II’s 2022 funeral and “has zero interest in setting foot there again. To her it’s a lion’s den,” says the source. “She thinks he’s absolutely naïve to see it any other way.”
That disagreement, the source says, has led to fresh “bickering and arguing” at home in Montecito, Calif., where the couple have made a new life on their 5.4-acre, $14.65 million estate. “They’ve definitely pointed the finger of blame at each other,” the source adds, noting that at this moment, the collateral damage of a royal reunion — inevitably subjecting them to renewed scrutiny and fresh attacks — may be the last thing their seven-year marriage needs.
The strain comes as Harry and Meghan are already charting increasingly separate paths. He’s leaning into his philanthropic initiatives and frequently traveling outside the U.S. to highlight his charitable work, while Meghan’s been focused on reinventing herself as a businesswoman, promoting her As Ever food line and Netflix entertaining series — though, like her recent nine-episode Confessions of a Female Founder podcast, the show may now be on the back burner after two seasons and an underperforming special, Vanity Fair reported. (The holiday special earned a zero-percent fresh rating among critics on Rotten Tomatoes and failed to crack the Netflix Top 10 in the U.S. or globally in its first week of release.) Undeterred by lackluster success, Meghan, per recent speculation, has her sights on a fashion or beauty brand next.
But the truth is Hollywood hasn’t embraced Meghan in the way she may have expected. “Bravado aside, she is privately worried about her prospects. She’s desperate to stay relevant and finds it very difficult to stomach how difficult it’s been to crack Hollywood these past few years,” says the source. “It’s been one setback after another. The issue now is that the worse things get, the harder the challenge becomes.” Despite her royal credentials, A-list guests weren’t exactly lining up to appear on her show, for example, which has featured writer-actress Mindy Kaling, model Chrissy Teigen and Queer Eye’s Tan France as well as chefs and non-famous pals. Says the source, “She’s had to settle for second- and third-best.”
She and Harry have also alienated some powerful players. After snaps of the Sussexes celebrating at reality TV matriarch Kris Jenner’s 70th birthday party last month were scrubbed from the Kardashian family’s social media posts without explanation, an insider told Star Kim Kardashian was “outraged” that “she was essentially commanded to delete her own photos” by the duchess following years of being friendly and welcoming to Meghan.
Just as she was navigating those setbacks, the duchess found herself facing a fresh round of online scrutiny. Internet sleuths accused her of stealing an emerald Galvan Ushuaia dress worth $1,724 from a 2022 Variety photoshoot after noticing she wore a similar look in promotional materials for her holiday special. Her team swiftly shut down the rumor as “highly defamatory” and “categorically false.” Still, the accusation underscores how “she never seems to get the benefit of the doubt,” says the source.
Still, Meghan will try and try again. “She’s willing to do anything it takes to get her hopes and dreams back on track,” says the source, citing her recent cameo — she was spotted on the Southern California set of the rom-com Close Personal Friends in November — as one example. “She’d never have entertained going back to acting before all these setbacks. Now she’s in a position where she needs to build herself and her reputation from the ground up, which means getting out there and hustling,” adds the source, who says Meghan still firmly believes she can build an empire on par with Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop or Martha Stewart’s eponymous brand.
Meanwhile, Harry — who at one point seemed to turn his back on royal life in favor of $100 million in Netflix money — is acting more like a prince than ever. He’s been building goodwill charming audiences with his innate charisma before he heads back to the U.K. for another legal battle against a newspaper publisher in early 2026 and, he hopes, more time with the king. Two days after making a surprise appearance in a comedic sketch with late-night host Stephen Colbert, Harry earned laughs and a standing ovation at the British-American Business Council’s annual Christmas luncheon Dec. 5. “People sometimes ask if growing up with the royal family was a bit like Julian’s Downton Abbey,” Harry said, referring to the event’s honoree, show creator Julian Fellowes, per People. “Yeah, but only one of those worlds is filled with drama, intrigue, elaborate dinners, marriages to Americans — and the other is a TV show.”
For Meghan, however, the drama feels less like a punchline and more like a pressure point. “Harry’s passionate about his quasi-royal role and philanthropy — it’s clearly what he understands the most and where he feels comfortable,” says the source. But from his wife’s perspective, “there are millions of dollars at stake and an urgent need to make money right now.” Both, adds the source, know “they’re wired very differently in this way.”
The gap appears to be widening. “If anything, they’re drifting further apart when it comes to business philosophies and priorities,” says the source. “And Meghan’s never been more determined to make her mark and ensure this reinvention is a success no matter what.”
