Meghan "kept her head down" after "Spare," commentator claims

She's been avoiding the spotlight

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attends day twelve of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 14, 2018 in London, England.
(Image credit: Photo by Clive Mason / Getty)

As you likely know by now, Prince Harry will be attending King Charles' coronation on 6 May, but Meghan Markle will be staying behind in California with their two children, Archie and Lilibet.

For one royal commentator, this makes sense in the context of the Duchess of Sussex' recent behavior — i.e. the fact that she's not been seen much in public since Prince Harry's memoir Spare was published in January. 

Notably, Meghan hasn't had any official engagements since then, and hasn't released any new projects such as her Archetypes podcast. The only news we've had about her has come indirectly, for example when she hosted a charity event for International Women's Day with Archewell, and when paparazzi photos have popped up occasionally.

"She's kept her head down for some time," PR expert Mark Borkowski told the Daily Mail.

"I suspect this is due to the noise that accompanied Spare, it created debate and a huge amount of coverage. I don't think it played well in America, especially with their fundraisers."

For Mark, Spare negatively affected the Sussexes' popularity (and sadly the polls tend to agree). However, he claimed: "They will be very quick to regenerate interest. But it is going to be more and more difficult. For many Spare was a set of stories that went too far."

In the book, Prince Harry made a number of shocking revelations. For example, he said that brother Prince William had physically attacked him in his home in 2019, among many other unexpected claims.

Mark isn't the first to use the expression "keeping her head down" to describe Meghan since January.

"Meghan has been keeping her head down in Montecito, taking care of the kids and working on projects that are coming up in the months ahead," a source told Us Weekly earlier this year. They added that Meghan was "happy to let Harry take centre stage" as he promoted his book.

Iris Goldsztajn
Iris Goldsztajn is a celebrity and royal news writer for Marie Claire.
As a London-based freelance journalist, she writes about wellness, relationships, pop culture, beauty and more for the likes of InStyle, Women's Health, Bustle, Stylist and Red. Aside from her quasi-personal investment in celebs' comings and goings, Iris is especially interested in debunking diet culture and destigmatising mental health struggles.
Previously, she was the associate editor for Her Campus, where she oversaw the style and beauty news sections, as well as producing gift guides, personal essays and celebrity interviews. There, she worked remotely from Los Angeles, after returning from a three-month stint as an editorial intern for Cosmopolitan.com in New York.
As an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles, she interned at goop and C California Style and served as Her Campus' national style and LGBTQ+ editor. Iris was born and raised in France by a French father and an English mother. Her Spotify Wrapped is riddled with country music and One Direction, and she can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.