Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been making increasingly more separate public appearances and next week they will be coasts apart as they make solo outings on the same day thousands of miles apart
Meghan Markle once famously likened her and Prince Harry to “salt and pepper” as they always “move together”.
But next week, rather than the inseparable force they’ve come to represent, the couple will be thousands of miles apart once again as they both make big public appearances at opposite ends of the United States. Next Wednesday (December 4), Meghan is expected to appear at a glitzy Hollywood party honouring her pal Tyler Perry.
Perry is receiving The Paley Honors Award in Beverley Hills, with both Harry and Meghan named on the hosting committee for the award. However, despite being on the committee, Harry is set to be thousands of miles away in New York City, where he is set to speak at The New York Times DealBook Conference.
The couple during a rare joint public appearance in a video message last month
It comes as the pair have set tongues wagging with a string of increasingly separate public appearances over recent months since they embarked on a joint tour of Colombia in the summer. In fact, Harry was away from Meghan and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, for at least two weeks with public appearances in New York, London, as well as Southern Africa in late September and early October.
Then just last week, Harry embarked on a solo trip to Canada to promote his Invictus Games taking place in February 2025 in Vancouver and Whistler. Meanwhile, it emerged that Meghan hosted a holiday dinner without her husband for Afghan women who have relocated to California and also let her hair down at a launch party for her pal Kadi Lee’s new haircare brand.
The apparent pursuit of separate careers has also seen rumours swirl about their private life, with one report alleging Harry spent the night of his 40th birthday with pals on a hiking holiday instead of his wife.
Prince Harry embarked on a solo trip to New York earlier this autumn (
Image:
Getty Images)
Meghan on the red carpet for a charity gala in LA (
Image:
Variety via Getty Images)
However, sources close to the couple have explained away the separate appearances saying one of them always stays behind for their children. One pal told People: “What we are seeing is a functional and healthy relationship with two working partners, not the contrary.”
Meanwhile, another source also told the magazine that it shows the couple’s new “twin-track approach” with Harry focusing on his charity endeavours and Meghan on her entrepreneurial projects and business.
However, experts have also weighed in on why this ‘professional separation’ may be happening. And PR expert Mark Borkowski told The Telegraph that the Sussexes’ “separation of work” has been ongoing for a while now, especially as Meghan works on her new American Riviera Orchard brand.
He believes the reason behind their solo appearances is because the “star power” they believed they might have had as a couple when they dramatically quit their royal roles simply “didn’t work”.
He explained: “They had to change the narrative. They need a venture that deflects from the failures. The charity aspect impresses upon everybody that he [Harry] does have value beyond the controversial stuff. It has the effect of separating them from the bad press and the failed content ideas. The punters still have time for Harry.”
Meghan at a holiday dinner for the Welcome Project in California last week (
Image:
The Archewell Foundation via Get)
But despite the separate outings, there has been one joint appearance by the pair that came in a video message about the importance of protecting children online. The clip shows the Sussexes in their first public appearance together in months, delivering a message that was played at a United Nations conference in Colombia on ending violence against children.
In the clip, Harry says: “We are at a crossroads”, adding: “The urgency to reassess and redefine our approach to protecting children has become increasingly evident. While the necessity has always been apparent, it’s now time to translate that awareness into meaningful action.”
Meghan gazes at her husband while he talks before she explains: “My husband and I recognise that today’s reality is marked by greater connectivity and advanced technology, which, of course, has many positives. However, it also compels us to better understand how digital violence against children is manifesting itself in this age.”
Prince Harry during a visit to the Seaforth Armoury in Vancouver on a solo trip to Canada (
Image:
Getty Images)
And analysing all of these latest appearances, body language expert Judi James told the Mirror there has been a definite shift between the Sussexes. She explained: “Harry and Meghan’s relationship seems to have evolved from a totally twinned one, where their body language was confined to appearances as a matching, complimentary and very royal-looking double act, to one that resembles the shape of a letter Y; joined and twinned at the base but also separating into two individuals moving into two rather separate professional directions.
“The newly ‘sole trader’ body language performances need to be interspersed with appearances that describe and emphasize the base of the ‘Y’. Theirs has always been laid out as a love story with a romantic core and seeing them alone still tends to create a look of a lost limb, thanks to their previously constant love of touch, tie-signs and other PDAs to provide a touching narrative that the world enjoys watching.
“The recent ‘base of the Y’ appearance was a rather formal and regal video appearance where Meghan threw Harry constant affectionate-looking glances to register besotted encouragement while he spoke, and Harry, more formally, failed to respond in kind apart from one rather rigidly extended arm placed around his wife’s back on the cue of the word ‘together’.
“The message was clearly one of ongoing bonds and togetherness but for fans of the Harry and Meghan passionately romantic body language rituals it was rather thin gruel. It will be sad for their fans if, despite their marriage being enduringly strong and loving, they have made a decision to tone down the PDAs.” But despite the shift, Judi believes both Harry and Meghan look “happy, confident and comfortable” despite spending so much time apart.
