April 7, 2026

Meghan Markle Wants a New House, a New Image, and Maybe New Friends

Show Notes
Transcript

On this afternoon’s Palace Intrigue, fresh questions swirl around Meghan Markle’s upcoming wellness retreat in Australia after online posts suggest some people may be planning to attend under false pretences. We also look at reports of growing tension between Harry and Meghan and Penguin Random House, claims that Meghan may want a second home closer to Los Angeles, and criticism of the Sussexes’ new Netflix polo drama. Plus, new talk of a Meghan brand overhaul, a frosty reported palace phrase for Harry and Meghan behind closed doors, Meghan’s rare Instagram comment to Patrick J. Adams about the jam, and a report claiming the Sussexes are off the guest list for the 2026 Met Gala.

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Calorogus Shark Media Now, hello and welcome to you, Palace Intrigue.

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I am your host, Mark Francis. Page six suggests there

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may be a plot to disrupt Meghan Michael's wellness retreat

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in Australia. The Dunchess of Sussex is due to headline

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a three day gathering at Sydney from April seventeen to nineteen,

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described as a program of powerful conversations, relaxation, laughter and

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unforgettable experiences. Ticket prices range from around nineteen hundred to

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more than thirty two hundred four premium packages, which include

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a gala dinner, the group photographed with Meghan and additional perks. However,

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social media users have posted messages suggesting they intend to

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attend under false pretenses, with one writing good luck figuring

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out who it is Megan Will. Another claimed there are

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button cameras, metaglasses. We've got all the bases covered. Now

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that they've been accepted, let the games begin. The posts

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of raised concerns about potential disruption or security risks, though

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there have been no official indication that the event will

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be altered. Separately, some online commentary has questioned the pricing

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and demand for the retreat, with one user speculating the

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security risk could be used as an excuse to pull

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the whole thing. Not enough people want to pay ridiculous

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money for a short photo up. Harry and Meghan are

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reportedly facing another business set back, with a new report

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claiming their relationship with publisher Penguin Random House as badly

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deteriorated in the aftermath of Harry's memoir Spare. According to

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the report, the couple's alleged twenty million dollar publishing arrangement

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has effectively stalled, and insiders claimed the publisher has grown

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frustrated after repeated requests for more money. On source told

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News Nation the executives at Penguin Random House are fielding

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near weekly calls from Camp Sussex asking for more money.

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They think there are royalties, but there aren't. Penguin overpaid

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and marketing, printing, and other costs. Even with millions of

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copies sold, they will never earn out or get royalties.

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The report says that while Spare was a huge launch success,

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no follow up titles have materialized, and that has apparently

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become a growing point of tension. According to the same

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insider account, Penguin Random House has also rejected two additional

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book ideas said to have been proposed by Megan. One

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source put it bluntly, saying Penguin Random House is done

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with the Sussexes will never publish another book by them.

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They were financially burned. Megan may be angling for a

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second home. According to a report citing an unnamed source,

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the couple feel their current base in Montecito leaves them

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somewhat removed from the entertainment industry, with the distance making

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regular meetings and networking more difficult. The source described their

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Montecito property, purchased in twenty twenty, as feeling more like

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a retreat than a practical hub for business. As a result,

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Meghan is said to be exploring options who's closer to

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Los Angeles, with areas such as Brentwood, Bellair, Malibu, and

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Calabasas all reportedly under consideration. The same source claimed Megan

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would love a second home, though financial realities could complicate

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maintaining two high end properties. Calabasas was noted as a

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potentially appealing option, partly due to its proximity to well

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known industry figures. Not everyone is excited about Harry and

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Meghan's new Netflix polo drama. US based commentator Lee Cohen

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was particularly scathing, saying Netflix appears to have learned remarkably

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little from what he described as The Sussex's underwhelming output.

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He said, by now the Sussex Hollywood formula is painfully familiar,

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maximal hype, minimal results. In my view, Netflix keeps rolling

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the dice on the couple, whose global profile seems to

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rest almost entirely on Prince Harry's birthright rather than on

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any consistent record of professional success. Then will be co

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produced by Archbold Productions and Fake Empire, the company behind

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Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. Megan may be preparing to

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change the way she presents herself online and through her

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lifestyle brand, after criticism that her current content feels overly

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polished and disconnected. One branding source, Quota by Radar Online

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said there is a growing consensus that Megan is set

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for a major new content overhaul because her current social

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media style is being seen as out of touch. She

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is increasingly looking at Gwyneth Paltrow's model, particularly the natural

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conversational tone of Goop is something to emulate because it

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feels more authentic and less constructed. Another source said a

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lot of the criticism focuses on how tightly controlled the

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content feels. There is a perception that it tips into

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blandness and overly obvious curation, where every detail appears filtered

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and prepackaged, rather than allowing space for something more natural,

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personal and genuinely relatable to come through more palace in

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just a moment. Harry and Meghan are reportedly still a

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sensitive subject within the royal circles, with a new claim

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suggesting they are referred to in notably indirect and rather

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frosty terms behind powace walls. According to authur Craig Brown,

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writing in his book A Voyage Around the Queen, members

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of the royal family and their aides tend to avoid

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mentioning the Sussex by name altogether. Instead, Broadcaster Giles Brandreth

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said they are sometimes described in a deliberately distant way.

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He explained, these days, the names of Harry and Meghan,

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the Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not crop up

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very often in court circles. When they do, courtiers flinch

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almost imperceptibly and change the subject, or, if that's not possible,

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refer to them obliquely as persons who live overseas, added

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that when the couple are mentioned directly to senior royals,

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the response is typically brief and carefully neutral. We wish

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them all the best. Another anecdote included in the book

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comes from David Armstrong Jones, who is quoted as saying

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the Royal family is quite good at blanking out anything

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unpleasant or uncomfortable. By contrast, when the couple were still

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working Royals, they reportedly had more routine and even affectionate

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internal nicknames. Security teams are said to have used ds

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for Duke and Duchess of Sussex, while code names such

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as David Stevens and Divina Scott were also used for discretion.

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Meghan herself has previously shared that she and Harry began

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referring to each other by their initials early in their relationship,

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explaining it started probably at the beginning of us dating.

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I couldn't tell anyone who I was dating, so I

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think we were on just a letter basis and then

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it stuck. Meghan popped up with a rare public comment

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on Instagram after her former Suits co star Patrick j

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Adams joked that he had never received one of her

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now infamous jars of jam. The moment came after Adams

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appeared on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast and revealed,

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somewhat wounded on behalf of the Rachel Mike fan community

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that he had not been among those chosen few to

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receive Meghan's fruit preserves. He got a jam, I didn't

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get a jam, Adams said. He added, how was the

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jam be real? We should taste the jam, we should

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crack it open. That prompted Meghan herself to jump into

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the comments, which she does not do very often, and

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publicly promised to fix the situation. Jams. En route to you,

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Meghan wrote Taggy Adams and his wife, Troy and Bellisario.

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She also added a more personal note, hugs to those

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beautiful babies. Send my love to your mom heart emoji.

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Another one for the pile. This time, the claim is

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that Harry and Meghan were not invited to the met Gala,

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and that Meghan in particular is not exactly winning over

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the fashion establishment. According to a report from News Nation,

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invitations have gone out for the twenty twenty six met Gala,

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and the Sussexes are not on the guest list. The

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peace leans heavily into the idea that Meghan had hoped

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to attend, especially given her perceived connections to some of

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the events orbit, including Beyonce and the Williams sisters. When

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unnamed source put it bluntly, people are just kind of

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over her. She sucks the air out of every room

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and makes it about herself. Anna does not want that,

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and they have it. If you'd like to email us

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addresses the Palace Intrigue at gmail dot com, please follow

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us on your favorite podcast app and mink Francis. But

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thanks to John McDermott, this says Palace Intrigue and good

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terms

Meghan Markle Wants a New House, a New Image, and Maybe New Friends

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