Meghan Markle's Return to Royal Playbook Pays Off

Meghan Markle returned to a tried-and-tested royal formula for an awards ceremony as she turned up at a gala with a positive message about "service."

The Duchess of Sussex won praise from some unlikely places as she talked about feminism while collecting a Women of Vision award at an annual gala put on by Ms. Foundation for Women.

It comes after two months of royal bombshells in December and January dealt Meghan and Prince Harry a reputational blow in America. First, there was the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, and then the prince's memoir, Spare, both of which were candid.

The U.K. newspaper Daily Mail wrote that Meghan "was indeed a 'vision'" in her $1,850 gold dress by Johanna Ortiz and $1,350 gold Tom Ford heels.

"You can be the visionary of your own life," Meghan told the audience in footage posted on Twitter.

She said: "You can charter a path in which what you repeat in your daily acts of service, in kindness, in advocacy, in grace and in fairness—that those become the very things that are recognized by the next wave of women, both young and old, who will also choose this moment to join the movement and make our vision for an equitable world reality."

Meanwhile, The Sun quoted guest Paul Didonato who said: "Meghan was very gracious and beyond articulate. She was quite wonderful.

"She did become emotional. Seeing her on stage with Gloria Steinem felt like it was a cross-generational moment," Didonato added.

The Sun's headline made reference to the "Markle Sparkle"—a phrase first coined by the U.K. media during her heady early days as a working royal when "Meghan mania" swept Britain.

The awards coverage also suggested Prince Harry, who was in the audience, was "unbelievably proud." Blink, and it would be easy to forget that Harry is suing both The Sun and the Daily Mail over historic allegations of phone hacking.

In fact, the couple have sued the Mail's sister title, The Mail on Sunday, an additional three times between them, with one case still on going.

The positive coverage for Meghan came overnight. The Sun's print edition took a very different tone in relation to Prince Harry's lawsuit against the U.K. Government, where he hopes to win the right to pay for his Metropolitan Police bodyguards to be reinstated. The Sun's headline read: "We're not guns for hire, Harry: Met blasts Prince over VIP guard."

Harry and Meghan's tabloid critics may yet pop up with more negative messages about them, and the couple will certainly not have been chasing praise from the likes of the Daily Mail and The Sun.

However, the first round of the awards coverage cut against the expectation that the British press is relentlessly negative about the Sussexes. It comes after PR experts have said much of the reputational damage Harry and Meghan experienced in America in recent months was caused by negative messaging.

Eric Schiffer, chair of Reputation Management Consultants, told Newsweek in January: "Harry and Meghan built a brand on benevolent inspiration focused on the environment, equality, mental health. In the last 30 days, Harry chose to go negative in a 'professional victim' way that has destroyed this sentiment and created carnage for this elegantly positive brand that he had built in America.

"The backlash largely comes from the cognitive dissonance created when you build a brand on a positive foundation, and then you turn it into a missile aimed not at a third-party enemy, but at your father and your brother," Schiffer added.

"It's not the end of Harry's brand," Schiffer said. "He can turn it around, and the way he turns it around is standing down from the attacks on the king and William and focusing back on the environment and mental health and equality and away from the book."

Whichever direction any public commentary about Meghan's appearance now takes, her speech is certainly a return to that approach. Her use of the word "service" will not be lost on royal watchers.

Queen Elizabeth II famously dedicated her "whole life" to "service" in a speech on her 21st birthday, while Harry and Meghan said in the days after they were stripped of their honorary military titles and patronages that "service is universal."

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.