The Duchess of Sussex could make a return to acting after she moves back to the UK, according to reports.
Sources close to the Sussexes have not denied reports that Meghan has been offered an acting role in the country.
Australian outlet news.com.au first reported that one of the reasons behind Harry and Meghan’s decision to return to Britain was that the duchess had been offered a job in an upcoming project.
No details of any role or project have been confirmed. The Sussexes are expected to arrive back in Britain before the end of August, with their children enrolled to start school in September.
‘Key part of the puzzle’
Senior entertainment reporter Bronte Coy, who broke the story on news.com.au, reported that Meghan being offered a part in a “top secret” UK production had played a “significant” role in the family’s return.
“This is such a key part of the puzzle,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday.
“I think when we all heard that news that Harry and Meghan were moving here, and within a matter of days, and the kids were enrolled in school, everyone was asking, what is Meghan going to be doing?”
“I’m told it’s significant, and she’s very excited about it,” Coy said about Meghan’s latest project.
Coy also suggested she thinks “we will find out relatively soon”.
As an actress, Meghan was best known for her part in the US legal drama, Suits, in which she played lawyer, Rachel Zane, for seven seasons. Her last episode of Suits aired in 2018.
The duchess put her acting career on hold after her marriage to Prince Harry. At the time, she told the BBC that she did not view quitting acting as giving anything up, but rather as “a new chapter”.
She recently returned to acting for the first time in nearly a decade, with a cameo as herself in the upcoming comedy Close Personal Friends, which stars Lily Collins and Brie Larson.
A return to acting could be lucrative for Meghan. The BBC understands that while based in the UK she also hopes to expand the global reach of her US-based lifestyle and cooking brand, As Ever.
Prince Harry and Meghan plan to relocate from the US to a private, non-royal residence outside London, with their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, enrolled to start at school in September.
The decision follows a visit in July by Prince Harry, Meghan and their children to see King Charles III at his Highgrove home in Gloucestershire.
It was the first time the King had seen his grandchildren in person in more than four years, and the couple’s first visit to the UK together since 2022.
The BBC understands the King was unaware of the move before last weekend, but he welcomes the opportunity to see more of the Sussex family in a private and personal capacity.
There are no current plans for either Prince Harry or Meghan to resume their roles as working royals.
Questions have also been raised over whether the Sussexes will receive publicly funded security in Britain. Their UK protection was downgraded after they stopped being working royals in 2020 and moved to the US, where they have paid for their own protection.
Ailsa Anderson, the late Queen’s press secretary, said she does not think there will be any plans to give the Duke and Duchess of Sussex official security, adding: “It’s a very costly business and they are not working members of the Royal Family.”
She told BBC Breakfast that Prince Harry and Meghan’s return to the UK was “totally unexpected and fairly astonishing”.
But Dai Davies, a former head of royal protection and divisional commander in the Metropolitan Police, said the system for deciding whether someone should receive such protection is “carefully measured”.
Davies told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he suspects a review into the Sussexes’ security may take place if Prince Harry is to bring his family to the UK and “plans to remain here”.
He said that official security is “enormously expensive, especially if you’re moving into a premises which is not security prepared”.
On Friday, the duke is expected to find out more about how much he, and other high-profile complainants, will have to pay the Daily Mail publisher in costs over a failed legal battle.
The group—which includes Sir Elton John, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Elizabeth Hurley – sued Associated Newspapers Limited over claims of unlawful information gathering, but last month all their claims were dismissed.
