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Just as Meghan Markle was trying to combat the bad press she and Prince Harry received for showing up at an evacuation center in Los Angeles County for 17 minutes and getting a “photo op” with the mayor of Pasadena and other officials, came a blistering Vanity Fair feature about the Sussexes.

The magazine’s February 2025 cover story titled “Inside Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Big Business Ambitions, 5 Years After Their Royal Exit” took a look at the couple’s life since leaving the U.K. and didn’t put them in a flattering light.

Here’s more on that and what the former Suits star has done to hang on to the monarchy she claims mistreated her.

What Meghan has done to prove she won’t let go of her royal ties

Meghan Markle attends the 'Responsible Digital Future' forum at EAN University in Bogota, Colombia
Meghan Markle attends the ‘Responsible Digital Future’ forum at EAN University during visit to Bogota, Colombia | Juancho Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images

Not long after Harry and Meghan arrived in America, they seemed to embark on a royal-bashing tour. The prince and his wife claimed that they were treated so unfairly as working royals and continued to use the victim narrative for as long as they could. But some who spoke to Vanity Fair pointed out that it’s almost ironic that the couple tried to bring the monarchy down when that monarchy is the reason they were even intriguing.

As one former Spotify employee said: “The thing you’re escaping is the reason you’re compelling.”

Vanity Fair also noted that as much as Meghan spoke about her royal experience like it was the big bad wolf and how she and Harry wanted “freedom,” she still to this day holds on to some royal ties and refuses to let them go.

According to the publication: “How complete that independence is another point that rankles people about Meghan and Harry. If you still use a title and descend upon commonwealth or developing countries and let little girls curtsy to you, as one did to Meghan in Colombia, it doesn’t seem like you’ve totally left the monarchy behind. It also doesn’t give you a lot of room to critique it.”

Meghan is reportedly ‘devastated’ over other allegations made in the publication

The magazine’s cover story contained quite a few damning allegations about the couple including that are referred to as “local villains” by many of their Montecito neighbors, and that Meghan treats her staffers so badly that they “need long-term therapy” after dealing with her. Several of her former employees described working with the duchess as “really, really, really awful. Very painful. Because she’s constantly playing checkers–I’m not even going to say chess–but she’s just very aware of where everybody is on her board. And when you are not in, you are to be thrown to the wolves at any given moment.”

While Meghan has not commented publicly on the allegations, a source close to the Sussexes says she is “devastated” by them.

The insider told OK!: “Meghan was devastated when she saw all of these reports … It’s just upsetting for her to constantly have this negativity around.”