JAN MOIR: What will our favourite jampreneur actually do in the rainy misery of an island whose affection she squandered?
This is an opinion column by Daily Mail writer Jan Moir, mockingly previewing the Duchess of Sussex's reported return to the UK after years of criticising the Royal Family and British life. The piece frames the visit as unwelcome given Meghan's past comments describing the country and monarchy as unwelcoming, and questions what she hopes to achieve by coming back.
The column recaps grievances Meghan has aired since leaving royal life in 2020, including claims made in her 2021 Oprah interview about being denied security for Prince Archie, feeling unable to seek therapy despite suicidal thoughts, and other complaints about royal protocol. It also references her subsequent ventures, including the Netflix series "With Love, Meghan" and her lifestyle brand As Ever, contrasting her stated ambitions to become a major cultural and business figure in America with the reality of her career since Megxit.
- Jan Moir opinion piece mocks Meghan Markle's reported UK return.
- Recaps Meghan's past criticisms of the Royal Family since 2020.
- References her Oprah interview, Netflix show and As Ever brand.
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This visit follows years of public friction between Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and the British royal family and press since she and Prince Harry stepped back from royal duties in 2020, a move widely known as Megxit. Since then, Meghan has spoken openly in interviews, most notably a 2021 sit-down with Oprah Winfrey, about difficulties she says she faced within the royal household, including concerns over security for her son and struggles with her mental health.
Meghan has since built a career in the United States away from royal life, including a Netflix lifestyle series and a food and homeware brand called As Ever. Her past criticism of Britain and the monarchy makes any return to the UK a point of interest, since it raises questions about how she will be received and what her visit is intended to achieve.
Jan Moir is a columnist for the Daily Mail known for writing opinion pieces on royal and celebrity matters, often with a sharp or satirical tone. Readers should note that the piece in question is a personal opinion column rather than a straight news report.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Supporters of this kind of pointed commentary argue that public figures who have made forceful, repeated public claims about a country and its institutions cannot expect immunity from scrutiny when they return, particularly when the visit appears to serve commercial or image-rehabilitation purposes. They see robust, even mocking, opinion writing as part of a long British tradition of holding the powerful and famous to account, and argue that highlighting apparent contradictions between someone's stated grievances and their subsequent choices is fair comment rather than persecution. From this view, satire and scepticism are legitimate tools for testing whether a public narrative holds up, and readers are entitled to columnists who say plainly what many think privately.
The case against
Critics would argue that this style of coverage forms part of a long, well-documented pattern of disproportionately hostile and personal treatment of Meghan in parts of the British press, often noted by academics and media monitors as more mocking and more racially and gender coded than coverage of comparable royal figures. They would say that dismissing her disclosures about denied security, inaccessible mental health support and suicidal thoughts with sarcasm trivialises serious personal testimony and risks discouraging others from speaking about similar struggles. For them, genuine accountability journalism can coexist with basic compassion, and mockery dressed as commentary tells us more about entrenched media hostility than about its subject.