If Prince Harry and Meghan worked in an office and had to answer the dreaded Monday morning 鈥淪o, what did you get up this weekend?鈥 query, they鈥檇 have envy-inducing answers this week. From 贬补谤谤测鈥檚 hijinx-filled boys鈥 trip with polo pal Nacho Figueras to Meghan鈥檚 dinner out with friends in Montecito, they鈥檝e been out and about much more than usual.
In fact, what鈥檚 most striking about the Duchess of Sussex鈥檚 recent whirlwind of social activity 鈥 a meal with friends at Lucky鈥檚 steak house on Sunday, a sighting at the Polo Lounge in Beverly Hills before that, shopping in Montecito on Thursday and the Taylor Swift concert at SoFi stadium in L.A. last Tuesday 鈥 is how unusual it is for her.
This is the woman who was not seen in public for the entirety of the first three months of this year, and in the five months after that has popped up just a handful more times. In fact, there have been more sightings of her in the last two weeks than in all of 2023 combined.
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Meanwhile in Japan and Singapore, Prince Harry has been living it up with his bestie, Argentinian polo star Nacho Figueras. They played two polo matches together in aid of Sentebale, the charity Prince Harry founded that supports young people in Botswana and Lesotho.
But Figueras鈥 social media posts showing them playing foosball, posing in sunglasses Zoolander-style while 鈥渟hopping for our wives,鈥 and grinning on horseback could have been plucked from any two Millennial-dads-let-loose boys鈥 trip, albeit with more tight, white jodhpurs than average.
Much like Meghan鈥檚 appearances, it鈥檚 贬补谤谤测鈥檚 demeanour that鈥檚 striking: He鈥檚 smiling, for starters, grinning on the polo field and cheesing it up with Nacho in a way that we haven鈥檛 seen in a while.
Predictably, outlets like the Aussie site have drawn a comparison to his unhappiness-by-contrast when pictured with Meghan in America.
Rather than signalling confirmation of those persistent split rumours 鈥 which Nacho took for the team by telling The Telegraph 鈥淲e miss our wives very much鈥 鈥 we鈥檇 argue that this spree of separate public appearances is actually a sign that Harry and Meghan are very much still a united front, and remain invested in their joint future.
That鈥檚 because, looked at together, they have all the hallmarks of a co-ordinated public relations campaign 鈥 and one that marks a strategic shift in direction. The brief? Have fun and be yourselves!
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It sounds silly, but this is exactly what we鈥檝e seen from Meghan and Harry over the last few weeks: Recall Meghan鈥檚 chill outing to a farmer鈥檚 market, or their joint video appearance, in co-ordinating camel outfits, when they giggled together over a shared iPhone on speaker as they congratulated the young tech entrepreneurs who were winners of The Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund.
The recent news about their production company鈥檚 adaptation of 海角社区官网author Carley Fortune鈥檚 romance novel 鈥淢eet Me At The Lake鈥 is another example of this pivot to the positive, particularly with its nod towards Meghan鈥檚 carefree 海角社区官网days and their own early courtship, which blossomed in the city. Even the 鈥渟tress relief鈥 device Meghan was spotted wearing last Thursday (a NuCalm Disc affixed to her wrist that uses biometric data to optimize well-being) felt less like a signal that she was suffering in 贬补谤谤测鈥檚 absence and more like a hint at the return of her wellness-heavy blog The Tig, where a post on that circa 2014 would have been very much at home.
We know that Meghan recently signed with Hollywood power agency WME, and it鈥檚 not a stretch to think that her reps might have encouraged their star client, beleaguered with one bad news story after another, reputations stuck in a spiral of often manufactured controversies, to palate cleanse in the public sphere with a spate of palatable, less complicated glimpses of the new lives they鈥檙e building.
Which does look pretty fun.
Opinion articles are based on the author鈥檚 interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
Sarah Laing is a Toronto-based freelance contributor for The
Star, writing about celebrity and culture. Follow her on X:
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