Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had a weekend of celebration in the U.K. with Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee as well as daughter Lilibet's first birthday—but now the couple has a court hearing on the horizon.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were out in public and getting cheers on the streets of London as they showed up to honor Queen Elizabeth II.
They then had a private birthday party for daughter Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor and released a heartwarming picture of the one-year-old sporting ginger hair like her father's.
However, back home in California the rest of their summer will likely include some points of conflict as well as moments of excitement.
Prince Harry's Mail on Sunday Libel Lawsuit
First up, Harry enters a new phase in his libel lawsuit against The Mail on Sunday over a story about his police protection.
The duke is suing for defamation over a February 2022, article headlined Exclusive: How Prince Harry tried to keep his legal fight with the government over police bodyguards a secret ... then—just minutes after the story broke—his PR machine tried to put a positive spin on the dispute.
The newspaper is the same U.K. tabloid Meghan sued for publishing a letter she sent her father and, while she won, the process was so traumatic she at one stage feared losing a pregnancy from the stress.
Harry has also sued the Mail on Sunday before and the publication settled out of court at the end of 2020.
However, far from agreeing to a payout this time, the publisher of the Mail on Sunday, Associated Newspapers, appears to be gearing up to fight the case.
The duke's lawyers were back in court on June 9, arguing over the meaning of the Mail on Sunday story during a preliminary hearing.
Meghan and the Mystery of the Palace Bullying Probe
Meghan and Harry's Oprah Winfrey interview was steeped in controversy before it had even aired when a leak to U.K. newspaper The Times revealed the duchess had been accused of bullying staff while at Kensington Palace in October 2018.
Buckingham Palace announced a review—which it stressed was not an investigation—with suggestions the findings would appear in the annually released Sovereign Grant Report.
The document outlines how the royal family spends their public funding each year but nothing was ready in time for the 2021 edition.
The 2022 report will be out at the end of June, and it may contain bombshell findings in the form of witness statements from staff who accused Meghan of mistreating them.
However, there have also been rumors in the U.K. press that the review may never see the light of day.
Fifteen months on from the Oprah interview, it is hard to see how more time would be needed to complete the work so, if no mention is made, the assumption will likely be the bullying probe has been mothballed.
Either way, there will likely be an answer of sorts to a question that has been looming over the Sussexes for more than a year.
Meghan Markle's Archetypes Spotify Podcast
There is long-anticipated new work in the pipeline too for both Harry and Meghan with a new Spotify podcast from the duchess expected this summer.
The podcast, Archetypes, will examine at the negative portrayal of women in the media and how these characterizations are harmful.
In a teaser trailer released in March, the duchess said: "I'm Meghan, and this is Archetypes, the podcast where we dissect, explore, and subvert the labels that try to hold women back.
"I'll have conversations with women who know all too well how these typecasts shape our narratives. And, I'll talk to historians to understand how we even got here in the first place."
No definitive launch date has been given but when the show does drop it will end an 18-month wait for content since the couple's deal with the streaming giant was announced in December 2020.
Prince Harry's first Netflix project, Heart of Invictus, is also yet to debut after the Invictus Games, which it focuses on, was held in April 2022.
And the duke's highly anticipated memoir is due later in the year but also does not have a specific release date yet.
All eyes will be on whether the book heaps new criticism on the royal family, like the Oprah Winfrey interview, or seeks to make peace with Harry's relatives.
For more royal news and commentary check out Newsweek's The Royal Report podcast:
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more
