Meghan Markle's shift from Hollywood to the royal family was not accidental, according to biographers and palace insiders who say she often planned her next steps carefully.

Planning Her Image and Career Shift

Tom Bower, in his book "Revenge," argued that "in Meghan Markle's life, little happened by chance." He described her, per the Daily Mail, as someone who "disrupted spontaneity and liked to control every aspect of her life." Bower linked this tendency to the fall of 2016, when her relationship with Prince Harry was taking shape.

During that period, Markle began altering her public profile. References to her work on "Deal or No Deal" and her modeling career were scrubbed from her Wikipedia page. In their place appeared a section on "humanitarian work," highlighting her speech at a United Nations women's event.

Weeks later, Markle informed her agent, Gina Nelthorpe-Cowne, that she would end her acting career. Nelthorpe-Cownelater told Bower, "I realized it meant losing her as a friend as well as a client."

Bower also described the Halloween party in Toronto in 2016, where Markle posted a photo on Instagram with Harry. He wrote that many at the event believed she was "outing" the prince, adding that "for her own good reasons she wanted the relationship to be publicized."

By early November, journalist Camilla Tominey broke the story of their romance. Media outlets quickly followed, pointing to details such as matching bracelets and Harry's private Instagram activity. The palace later confirmed the news, fueling a media frenzy outside Markle's home.

Clashes With the Institution

Once she joined the royal household, Meghan's instinct to shape her own narrative collided with palace tradition. Author Tom Quinn wrote in "Yes Ma'am" that Meghan "wanted to do her own thing," even if it meant working outside strategies agreed with palace staff.

A former courtier told Quinn that Queen Elizabeth II "always had to be the centre and focus of everything the Royal Family did, and I don't think Meghan understood why that had to make her do things she didn't want to do." The courtier added, "When you join the Royal Family, you don't do as you please, you do as you're told."

On the 2019 tour of southern Africa, Meghan told ITV's Tom Bradby that "not many people have asked if I'm OK." She agreed when asked if it had been a struggle, a rare moment of candor for a royal on duty.

The Decision to Step Back

Royal author Valentine Low later argued in "Courtiers" that Meghan's wish to earn money independently contributed to the couple's decision to leave royal life. He reported that several compromise models were considered, but they required Harry and Meghan to follow rules about not profiting from their royal positions.

"Some suspected that in the end she wanted to make money," Low wrote. "And the only way she was going to do that was by leaving her royal life behind and going back to America."

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Meghan Markle, Royal family